The Taipei District Court yesterday heard a lawsuit by an interior designer against the son of former National Police Admin-istration chief Ding Yuan-chin (丁原進).
The designer, Ko Wen-cheng (柯文正), sued Ding Chao-chi (丁肇基) accusing the latter of failing to pay more than NT$4 million in interior design and decoration fees for his work at the Dings' controversial Vision City (世界山莊) villa.
Ding did not appear in court nor was he represented by an attorney at the hearing.
The dispute came to light earlier this month and led to allegations that the former police force head is living a life of luxury well beyond his means.
Ding's attorney, Chiani Lee (李采霓), said the designer failed to accomplish the agreed-upon tasks or win the Dings' approval for the work that was completed.
"The work had many defects, and my client twice asked them to do it properly, but they failed to meet these demands," Lee said.
Despite the flaws in the work completed, she said, Ding has paid NT$3.24 million of the originally agreed-upon NT$4 million.
"But they changed the project without consulting us and inflated the price to NT$8 million," Lee said.
But Ko told a different story, saying every piece of the work was carried out according to the contract.
"I asked them to approve the work, but they did not do so and just moved in and changed the lock," Ko said.
Taipei County Councilor Chin Chieh-shou (金介壽) appeared outside the court to support Ko. He said many business people offered to provide free furniture to Ding Yuan-jinn when he was in office.
"But they withdrew their offers when Ding stepped down. And that's why the Dings have failed to pay the money," he said.
The Control Yuan last Tuesday started an investigation into Ding's financial affairs and the circumstances surrounding the purchase of his residences.
Ding Yuan-chin was also charged last week by Taipei City Councilors with owing NT$24 million in fines and taxes for gifts he says he used to purchase an upscale villa in the Wenshan District of Taipei City.
Ding is the former head of the National Police Administration and previous chief of the Taipei City Police Headquarters.
Ding claimed on Tuesday that, to buy a house in Vision City worth NT$38 million, he gathered NT$6 million from his only son and borrowed NT$20 million from one of his "good friends."
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
RSS