Prosecutors yesterday dismissed charges against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) in a defamation case stemming from the alleged speculative acquisition and sales of military dependents’ housing by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Jennifer Wang (王如玄).
Wang became embroiled in allegations over her real-estate dealings during the heated election campaign in November last year. Her pairing with KMT presidential candidate Eric Chu (朱立倫) lost the Jan. 16 election.
Wang filed a defamation suit against Tuan on Dec. 2, after Tuan accused Wang and her husband, former Judicial Yuan Department of Government Ethics director Huang Tung-hsun (黃東焄), of using their connections to acquire and to sell military housing units, which have restrictions on transactions.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that Tuan had requested the details of Wang’s real-estate transactions from the Control Yuan and the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office, and that the documents had formed the basis of his allegations.
Prosecutors ruled that Tuan had not defamed Wang, because he had checked and verified the information he obtained, while the details indicated that Wang had been involved in deals over 14 military housing units.
Prosecutors said that according to their investigation, Wang had purchased 12 military housing units from 1995 to 2009, and was involved in two other units without completing a deal.
The prosecutors said that there was no illegality involved in any of Wang’s real-estate transactions.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
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