The Taiwan High Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling that radio host Clara Chou (周玉蔻) must pay NT$2 million (US$64,475) in compensation for defaming Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘).
Gou filed a lawsuit against Chou in 2015 after she accused him of making a NT$300 million donation to then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien’s (連勝文) campaign.
In August 2015, Chou, a HitFM radio host and frequent TV talk show guest, was ordered by the Taipei District Court to publish a half-page apology on the front page of seven newspapers, as well as on the my-formosa.com Web site.
Chou appealed the ruling, but the High Court upheld it, ordering her to pay the money, but limiting her apology to just four major dailies.
Chou can still appeal to the Supreme Court.
After an investigation, the High Court found that Gou did not donate NT$300 million to Lien’s campaign.
Chou made the claim based on comments by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and did not verify the claim with Gou or Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), the court said.
The case relates to events in January 2015, when Ko said in a radio interview that in the run-up to the mayoral election in late 2014, “a certain entrepreneur” gave NT$300 million to his rival.
Soon after, Chou said in a TV talk show that the entrepreneur was Gou.
Gou filed a defamation suit against Chou, as well as a civil lawsuit to demand compensation of NT$10 million.
Ko told the District Court that before the election, he had sought Ker’s help to introduce him to Gou in the hope of seeking the tycoon’s support.
Ko said he was told that Gou supported his rival and had given the latter NT$300 million.
Ko said that this revelation prompted him to drop the idea of meeting Gou.
However, Ker testified that Ko had misunderstood what he had said.
Ker said that what he meant was Gou had donated NT$300 million to the Taipei Pavilion of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai during the tenure of then-Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who is also a KMT member.
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