Prosecutors yesterday dismissed charges against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) in a defamation case stemming from the alleged speculative acquisition and sales of military dependents’ housing by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Jennifer Wang (王如玄).
Wang became embroiled in allegations over her real-estate dealings during the heated election campaign in November last year. Her pairing with KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) lost the Jan. 16 election.
Wang filed a defamation suit against Tuan on Dec. 2, after Tuan accused Wang and her husband, former Judicial Yuan Department of Government Ethics director Huang Tung-hsun (黃東焄), of using their connections to acquire and to sell military housing units, which have restrictions on transactions.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that Tuan had requested the details of Wang’s real-estate transactions from the Control Yuan and the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office, and that the documents had formed the basis of his allegations.
Prosecutors ruled that Tuan had not defamed Wang, because he had checked and verified the information he obtained, while the details indicated that Wang had been involved in deals over 14 military housing units.
Prosecutors said that according to their investigation, Wang had purchased 12 military housing units from 1995 to 2009, and was involved in two other units without completing a deal.
The prosecutors said that there was no illegality involved in any of Wang’s real-estate transactions.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if the next president of that country decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said today. “We would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said during a legislative hearing. At the same time, Taiwan is paying close attention to the Central American region as a whole, in the wake of a visit there earlier this year by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lin said. Rubio visited Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, during which he
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