Deputy Minister of Culture Vicki Chiu (邱于芸) has been sacked for writing a letter to Minister of Culture Hung Meng-chi (洪孟啟), in which she denied having leaked official documents, the Ministry of Culture (MOC) said late on Friday.
In a media release, the ministry said Chiu’s letter indicated that there are “doubts” about the efficacy of communication between Hung and his deputy and that the letter “ran counter to administrative ethics.”
To avoid difficulties executing the ministry’s policies, Hung on Friday sought and received the approval to relieve Chiu of her duties, the media release said.
Chiu late on Friday issued a statement in which she reiterated that she was not the official who talked to reporters regarding a ministry discussion in May about the possibility of making payments to lawmakers affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the guise of subsidies in exchange for their support of the ministry’s budget proposal.
There had been rumors she was the source of the leak and she was unable to secure the assistance of other officials in the ministry to clear her name, so she wrote a letter to defend herself, Chiu said.
The daughter of media tycoon Chiu Fu-sheng (邱復生) and a former college assistant professor who received a doctorate from Cambridge University, Vicki Chiu said the decision to fire her from the post she was appointed to in January was “unfair and regrettable.”
She said she “would still like to give my superiors a present,” suggesting that she does not plan to contest the decision.
The controversy over the ministry’s alleged misuse of government funds stems from September last year, when a report in Next Magazine alleged that the ministry attempted to secure budget approval by offering KMT lawmakers NT$2.5 million (US$76,911) each in return for their support.
Hung offered to resign over the controversy, but his offer was turned down on Sept. 30 last year by Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) and the focus of the issue soon turned to the source of the magazine’s purported information.
The ministry said in its Friday media release that it is working with the ethics department and the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption in an investigation into matter.
In an update published on Friday, Next Magazine cited Ministry of Culture officials as telling investigators that the idea of paying KMT lawmakers for their approval of its budget was just a proposal raised during a meeting of top officials that was never adopted.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern
RSS