Hualien prosecutors yesterday indicted Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) and his “ex-wife,” Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚), on charges of forgery over Fu’s appointment of Hsu as his deputy commissioner last year.
The appointment, announced on Dec. 20, came just two days after the couple filed their divorce. The move at the time was interpreted by observers as an attempt by Fu to have his wife hold on to the post of commissioner should he be jailed during his term in office. Fu is appealing a six-and-a-half-year sentence for violating securities trading regulations.
Prosecutors yesterday said Fu and Hsu still lived together after filing for the divorce. The pair obviously did not intend to get divorced because they still participated in events and activities together instead of leading separate lives like normal divorced couples, prosecutors said, adding that the Ministry of the Interior earlier this year also deemed the pair faked their divorce.
Fu yesterday protested his innocence, saying it is couples, not the government, that enjoy the right to determine whether they are married or divorced.
He described the indictment as resulting from political maneuvering and said he could not accept it.
Following the appointment, the Control Yuan fined Fu NT$1 million (US$31,000) on March 8 for conflict of interests.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
Taiwan’s three major international carriers are increasing booking fees, with EVA Airways having already increased the charge to US$28 per flight segment from US$25, while China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines are set to follow suit. Booking fees are charged by airlines through a global distribution system (GDS) and passed on to passengers. Carriers that apply the fees include CAL, EVA, Starlux and Tigerair Taiwan. A GDS is a computerized network operated by a company that connects airlines with travel agents and ticketing platforms, allowing reservations to be made and processed in real time. Major players include Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport. EVA Air began
WATCH FOR HITCHHIKERS: The CDC warned those returning home from Japan to be alert for any contagious diseases that might have come back with them People who have returned from Japan following the World Baseball Classic (WBC) games during the weekend are recommended to watch for symptoms of infectious gastroenteritis, flu and measles for two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. Flu viruses remain the most common respiratory pathogen in Taiwan in the past four weeks and the influenza B virus accounted for 55.7 percent of the tested cases, exceeding the percentage of influenza A (H3N2) infections and becoming the local dominant strain, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said at a news conference on Tuesday. There were 82,187 hospital visits for
Alumni from Japan’s Kyoto Tachibana Senior High School marching band, widely known as the “Orange Devils,” staged a flash mob performance at the Grand Hotel in Taipei yesterday to thank Taiwan for its support after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The show, performed on the earthquake’s 15th anniversary, drew more than 100 spectators, some of whom arrived two hours before the show to secure a good viewing spot. The 26-member group played selections from “High School Musical,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and their signature piece “Sing Sing Sing” and shouted “I love
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