President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday filed lawsuits against Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) and political commentator Chen Min-feng (陳敏鳳) for accusations the pair made about Ma accepting off-the-books donations.
Ma’s attorney Hung Wen-jun (洪文浚) filed the civil lawsuits with the Taipei District Court, saying that the lawsuit sought from each of them pay NT$10 million (US$317,300) for damage done to Ma’s reputation and that they publish an apology in four major local newspapers.
Ma had no choice but to take legal actions against Tuan and Chen, because clarifications issued by the president had not stopped the spread of their false allegations, Hung said.
Photo: CNA
Chen on Jan. 15 said that at least 12 magnates from the telecommunications and electronics industries in 2007 collectively offered Ma NT$200 million while Ma was campaigning ahead of the 2008 presidential election.
Chen said the money went to Ma through one of the president’s long-term aides, who was later said to be Kang Bing-cheng (康炳政), director of the president’s office.
The contributors included Taiwan Memory Co (台灣記憶體公司) chairman John Hsuan (宣明智), then-First International Telecom Corp (大眾電信) president Charlie Wu (吳清源), Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) chairman Bough Lin (林文伯) and Taiwan Fortune of Fortune Venture Investment Group (富鑫創投) managing partner James Chew (邱羅火), among others.
Tuan accused Ma of illicitly accepted NT$100 million from a listed company in the run-up to the 2008 election, adding that the money helped the company facilitate its acquisition of a state-owned corporation of historical significance.
Hung also represented Kang in filing a lawsuit against Chinese-language weekly Business Today and its reporters who wrote a story about his role in the donations reportedly made to Ma, saying that Kang demand NT$3 million in compensation for damaging his reputation and an apology printed in newspapers.
Later yesterday, Chen said: “What the media is supposed to do is to supervise people in power. That’s what I have been doing.”
“If a president accepts off-the-books donations, it is a matter open to public scrutiny,” she said.
Tuan challenged Hung to explain in detail why the lawyer dismissed his allegation as false.
“Did I get the value of the donation wrong? Did I get the timing wrong? Or is the whole thing wrong? [Despite the denials made by Ma,] none of the people named have denied making the donations. Is that not strange?” Tuan said.
Late last month, Ma sued radio host Clara Chou (周玉蔻) for defamation after Chou accused him and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of accepting a political donation worth NT$200 million from Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際) during his re-election campaign in 2012.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at