Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung’s (林佳龍) wife, Patricia Liao (廖婉如), on Tuesday filed criminal defamation charges against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Deputy Secretary-General Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), KMT Taipei City Councilor William Hsu (徐弘庭) and show host Lan Hsuan (蘭萱) over an accusation that she used her marriage to obtain city contracts related to this year’s Taichung World Flora Exposition on behalf of the Chimei Museum, where she is the deputy director.
The three made the allegation on Jaw Shaw-kong’s (趙少康) talk show on Wednesday last week before repeating it on Monday on Lan’s radio show.
Liao filed the charges with her lawyer at the Taichung District Prosecutors’ Office, saying that the trio’s statement is false.
“The accusation made against me, which says that I allegedly interfered with the flower expo’s bidding process, obtained multiple city contracts or headed meetings at the city government, contains no truth whatsoever,” she said.
Liao said she was normally against filing lawsuits, but that the controversy sparked by the allegation was harming society and must be stopped, adding that the damage to her credibility was interfering with her charity work.
Separately, Lin’s re-election campaign headquarters said that Cheng, Hsu and Lan had not observed due diligence, as they had failed to verify the story prior to making the public statements.
Hsu said he had based his comments on remarks that Taichung City Councilor Lee Chung (李中) made during a question-and-answer session at the city council, adding that Lin and Liao should take up their complaint with Lee.
Cheng said her remarks on the talk shows were made in response to news reports brought up by the shows’ hosts and that the law protects talk about public issues.
“[Lai and Liao] should address their concern through proper channels with the public, not by filing lawsuits,” she said.
Lan said she comments on events as a journalist without imposing her personal views and that Liao is welcome to come on her radio show and give a rebuttal.
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