Minister of Education Ovid Tzeng (
The institute is undergoing a board shakeup under the ministry's supervision following a financial scandal exposed in July last year.
"No one has threated me," Tzeng said.
Tzeng said it was inappropriate for him to comment because the judicial authorities were still investigating the Jin-Wen scandal.
"Any remarks made without evidence would be slanderous," Tzeng said.
The threat allegation was first made by journalist and political analyst Sisy Chen (
Chen, a former spokeswoman for the DPP, said she got the information from members of the legislature's Education and Culture Committee who, she said, had recently discussed the matter in private with Tzeng.
The Ministry of Education took over the institute in August last year, after former institute chairman Chang Wan-li (
The ministry disbanded the institute's board in early March after it failed to improve the school's management.
In recent months, two factions of board members, led by Wu Ching-tang (
Certain legislators, including some who are alleged to have underworld backgrounds or connections, have been said to have played a part in the process by arranging meetings with Tzeng on behalf of the board members.
Questioned by People First Party lawmaker Diane Lee (李慶安) during a meeting of the Education and Culture Committee on Monday, Tzeng said independent legislator Lo Fu-chu (羅福助), as well as KMT legislators Lin Ming-I (林明義) and Mu Ming-chu (穆閩珠), had approached him to talk about matters related to the institute.
But Tzeng denied he had been under any pressure from the legislators or other people, saying the legislators had come to him out of concern for the school's development.
Whether Tzeng has actually received any threats from gangsters remains a mystery.
Though he has kept denying such reports publicly, stories about his claiming to have been threatened have been spreading among legislators.
It was the Jin-Wen scandal that led to a violent incident in the legislature on Wednesday.
Lo, the founder of the Tien Tao Meng syndicate -- which he denies is involved in organized crime -- thought Lee had insinuated that he was one of the gangsters who had tried to influence the investigation into the school and assaulted her after a fierce quarrel broke out between them.
On Thursday, Lo admitted that he had met Tzeng once last year on behalf of the faculty of the school, which is located in his constituency in Hsintien, Taipei County.
"The minister told me that he was threatened on the spot by Chen Hsi-nan, who was brought by different legislators to see him," Lo said, insisting that Chen was connected with gangsters.
Mu said yesterday that she had never met Chen before he came to her one day in July last year, asking her to take him to see Tzeng.
Mu said it was inconceivable that Chen or his companions would have revealed a gun because his meeting with Tzeng took place in a room in the Legislative Yuan where there were other people present.
According to Mu, Chen also contacted Lee as well as DPP legislators Chang Chuan-tien (張川田) and Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻).
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