Veteran political activist Shih Ming-te (施明德) yesterday rebutted allegations of financial impropriety during the 2006 anti-corruption “red shirts” against then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), as his lawsuit against former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Tainan City councilor Wang Ding-yu (王定宇) opened at the Taiwan High Court yesterday.
Shih, accompanied by his wife, Chen Chia-chun (陳嘉君), held a news conference in front of the court building, at which they showed stacks of receipts and accounting documents, which Shih said he planned to present as evidence.
“I have managed the public’s donations scrupulously,” Shih said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
In response to accusations by Wang and others critics that he had profited personally from the donations, he said: “People can kill me, but they must not denigrate my integrity.”
Shih sued Wang contending that Wang made false allegations against him during an appearance on a television talk show in 2007, when Wang said: “Shih is a deplorable person. He skimmed money from donations [to the red-shirt movement].”
In the first ruling, Wang was found to have tarnished Shih’s reputation and was ordered to pay NT$1 million (US$30,520 at current exchange rates) in damages.
Wang appealed the ruling at the Supreme Court, and in June the Council of Grand Justices ruled that Wang did not have to pay damages.
However, on the basis that he had new evidence to present, Shih filed a lawsuit with the Taiwan High Court which began hearing the case yesterday.
Toward the latter phase of the red-shirt movement, quarrels over accounting and use of money became a divisive issue, as Shih and other high-ranking activists came under pressure to reveal the details of the movement’s finances, since Shih had called for the public to donate NT$100 per person to show their support.
The red-shirt leaders announced on Oct. 13, 2006, that the donations they had received came to NT$111 million, of which NT$41.78 million was spent, leaving NT$62.62 million remaining.
Wang’s lawyer Chang Ching-kai (張清凱) yesterday said the court should not have granted Shih’s request for a retrial, since the Supreme Court had already made the final ruling on the case, and that during the lower-court trial, Shih had said that most of the receipts and accounting items had already been discarded or destroyed.
‘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
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
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
RSS