The Taiwan High Court on Thursday ruled against political commentators Chiu Yi (邱毅) and Lin Ruey-tou (林瑞圖) in a libel suit from 2012, saying that the men made groundless accusations and ordered them to pay compensation to the victim.
The High Court’s Kaohsiung branch reversed a district court decision against former Kaohsiung City Environmental Protection Bureau head Lee Mu-sheng (李穆生), who was seeking NT$25 million (US$794,155) in damages from Chiu and Lin.
The court ordered Chiu and Lin to pay NT$150,000 each in compensation.
The case was launched in relation to a separate case over alleged corruption by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世).
Lin Yi-shih was found guilty of corruption and other related charges in a ruling by the High Court in February, and was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison, and was ordered to pay a NT$15.8 million fine.
The ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court and the case is pending.
During the investigation into Lin Yi-shih, it was said that Lee, as head of the bureau, was involved in underhanded deals.
Appearing on a political TV show in 2012, former KMT legislator Chiu and Taipei City Councilor Lin Ruey-tou accused Lee of soliciting and receiving NT$300,000 in bribes for helping the Kaohsiung-based Ti Yung Co (地勇選礦公司) secure a slag treatment contract from state-owned China Steel Corp’s subsidiary.
Lee filed a libel suit, saying that Chiu and Lin Ruey-tou had not verified the information, and they had defamed him and damaged his reputation.
During the trial, Chiu said he researched the information and knew prosecutors were about to launch an investigation into the case, adding that his remarks were in the public interest and therefore he had done nothing wrong.
Lin Ruey-tou said he received tip-offs from members of the public who wished to remain anonymous, and that he had contacts in prosecutors’ offices to inform him of impending investigations, and that his conversations with the sources were protected under the Constitution’s freedom of speech clause.
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS