Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and pan-blue politicians exchanged lawsuits yesterday over political donations.
Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
"Mr. James Soong and others still cannot offer any evidence to prove that the Presidential Office is a center for `black gold' politics, so I am filing a lawsuit against them on behalf of the Presidential Office," Chiou said.
The six politicians are People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), PFP legislators Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄) and Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislators Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教), Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝) and Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順).
On Wednesday, Chiou demanded the blue camp apologize or show proof of their allegation, or face a lawsuit. But the politicians rejected the demand.
Chiou's deputy, Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), also filed lawsuits against Lee Chuan-chiao and PFP Legislator Lee Tung-hao (李桐豪) for libel, demanding NT$50 million as compensation. DPP Legislator Chang Ching-fang (張清芳) filed a lawsuit against Lee Tung-hao for libel as well.
Chen said, "Lee Chuan-chiao held a press conference to accuse me of handling illegal money, and that someone gave NT$20 million to dine with me in the Presidential Office. But this is not a fact. I did not see Chang Min-chiang (章民強)," Chen said.
Chang Min-chiang is chairman of the Pacific Sogo Department Stores.
"Lee Tung-hao also said that I had an apartment worth NT$60 million in Kaohsiung, and it is not true either. Both accusations have damaged my reputation," Chen said.
Countering the DPP's lawsuits, the PFP legislative caucus filed lawsuits against Chiou, accusing him of making malicious accusations against PFP politicians.
The PFP caucus said the Presidential Office was only shifting the focus to cover up the issue of the top officials taking illegal donations and no one has yet to clear up the matter.
Huang Shan-shan (
"With the Presidential Office charging PFP politicians with public insult to a public office, does that mean the Presidential Office's duty included taking money and interfering with the management of private enterprises?" Huang asked.
Meanwhile, Lee Chuan-chiao disappeared yesterday, although he accepted a phone interview with the media. Lee refused to disclose his whereabouts and said it was because he had received too many threats in the past few days.
Pacific Construction Co (太平洋建設) issued a statement two days ago saying that there was a top official at the Presidential Office involved in the management transfer of Pacific Sogo, but its chairman, Chang Min-chiang, never went to the Presidential Office to meet anyone, and never spent NT$20 million to meet Presidential Office officials.
According to Pacific Construction, the money, instead, was given by Mingyang Development Company (明陽開發公司), but Pacific Construction refused to explain where the money went.
Lee Chuan-chiao then alleged that it was Chang Min-chiang's son, Chang Chi-min (章啟民), who went to the Presidential Office to see Chen Che-nan. Lee Chuan-chiao said that Chang Min-chiang went to see him to talk about the matter on Monday, accompanied by four friends.
Lee Chuan-chiao urged Chang Min-chiang not to deny anything, threatening to reveal the names of the four friends, who he said were all respected and well-known figures.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS