The Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday confirmed that Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been identified as a defendant in a vote-buying case linked to DPP Tainan City Councilor Lai Mei-hui (賴美惠).
“Both William Lai and Lai Mei-hui have been listed as defendants in the alleged vote-buying case,” Deputy Chief Prosecutor Tsai Li-yi (蔡麗宜) told reporters yesterday when asked about comments made earlier by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Tainan County Councilor Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介).
When presiding over a council meeting in the morning, Hsieh said William Lai had been listed as a defendant by the prosecutor when he was summoned to testify on Lai Mei-hui’s case.
Hsieh said that since both William Lai and Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) of the KMT are listed as defendants in cases of alleged vote-buying: “I do not see how William Lai’s boycott of council meetings presided over by Lee is justified.”
He went on to ask whether the prosecutors’ office gave William Lai special treatment, as his name was not listed on an official court summons.
Tsai said that it is regular practice not to list the names of everyone summoned on a document if there are too many people.
When asked about the progress of the probe, Tsai declined to answer, saying that she could not disclose the information.
William Lai acknowledged being listed as a defendant, but said that it is because Lee and Hsieh falsely filed a lawsuit against him.
“My case is different from Lee’s, because Lee was indicted by the prosecutor representing the nation,” William Lai said. “I am not afraid of the test.”
However, Lee and Hsieh denied having anything to do with William Lai’s case, with Hsieh adding that he might consider filing a defamation lawsuit against William Lai if the mayor does not stop making false accusations.
Having served as council speaker during her previous term, Lai Mei-hui lost her re-election bid for speakership to Lee by a slim margin.
However, she was accused of giving NT$500,000 to councilors in exchange for their support.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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