Chiayi Mayor Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲) yesterday filed a defamation suit against Chien Chun-ping (簡俊平), who on Monday accused Twu of visiting a massage center for a “half-set” sex service.
Twu, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said the massage center he visited was legitimate and that he was there for a foot massage.
The center named by Chien was a different one, Twu said.
Photo: Ting Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
Chien’s malicious comments and another scandal that had plagued him in 2002 were groundless accusations aimed at blemishing his integrity, Twu added.
The 2002 incident involved a false accusation made by the then-People First Party legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) that Twu forcefully licked a man’s ear in a karaoke parlor.
The accusation was proven false, but the scandal caused severe damage to his reputation, Twu said yesterday.
“They could not make up corruption charges against me, so they slandered my name with false accusations,” he said.
After filing the suit with the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday, Twu gave out copies of a book written about the ear-licking scandal to the office’s head prosecutor, Lo Jung-chien (羅榮乾).
Twu said he has faced false accusations every time he has been appointed to a new position.
The ear-licking scandal emerged when he was promoted from acting head of the then-Department of Health to lead the agency in 2002.
The sex allegation came shortly after he was elected mayor in last year’s nine-in-one elections.
Twu said he suspects the false accusations have been politically motivated.
The latest accusation might be the first of a series of attempts to edge DPP mayors and commissioners out of consideration for the presidential race in 2016, Twu said.
Twu said the legal action is to curb a potential resurgence of false accusations, adding that aside from Chien, Next TV— which first aired the story — could be added to the action if necessary.
Meanwhile, Chien said he had evidence proving that Twu was in the contentious massage center, adding that the mayor is morally corrupt.
Chien said he is willing to go to court to prove the truth of his claim.
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