Taipei Councilor Wu Chih-kang (吳志剛) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) asked Taipei Councilor and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokeswoman Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) to “have mercy” on Taoyuan County Commissioner Wu Chih-yang (吳志揚) in a text message made public yesterday.
Both Wu Chih-kang and Wu Chih-yang are scions of former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄). Their family was voted the second-most powerful in the nation by respondents to a poll published by the Taiwan Inversion movement last week.
Last week, DPP legislators Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) and Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) accused Wu Chih-yang, who is seeking re-election in the Nov. 29 elections, of using public funds for personal expenses, and firing a civil servant who refused to approve his requests.
The legislators also claimed that he used his influence over Taoyuan Aerotropolis Corp — owned by the Taoyuan government — to coerce the firm into investing NT$100 million (US$3.25 million) into Taiwan Smart Card Corp, of which his uncle Wu Yun-feng (吳運豐) is the largest shareholder.
Wu Chih-yang has strenuously denied all allegations and is suing the legislators for libel.
Hsu Chia-ching said that after she went on television at the weekend to discuss the accusations, Wu Chih-kang called her five times.
He also sent her a text message saying that his father, Wu Poh-hsiung, was in poor health and asked her to “have mercy” when making statements about Wu Chih-yang.
Hsu said that in eight years of working together at the Taipei City Council, she had never been on close terms with Wu Chih-kang and had never before received a call from him.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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