Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) yesterday filed a judicial complaint against people who accused him online of meddling with government efforts to procure a foreign-made COVID-19 vaccine and allegedly earning US$300 million in kickbacks.
Wu of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) filed the complaint of aggravated defamation at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office after his office gathered evidence on 10 people whose posts mentioning Wu were widely circulated on social media.
The reposts reportedly sparked controversy among Internet users on leading online discussion sites, including Professional Technology Temple and Dcard.
Photo: Chien Lee-chung, Taipei Times
“The accusations arose from falsified, erroneous information formulated to interfere with efforts by health authorities to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, and aimed at creating fear and panic in society,” Wu’s office said in a statement.
“Despite earlier clarifications, some Internet users continued to post the disinformation and false accusations, circulating them wider through social media, to achieve their malevolent intention,” it added.
“Those Internet users produced drawings and memes to scorn and disparage me and top health officials,” it said. “This complaint of defamation is being filed to protect my integrity and to halt such fake news and disinformation.”
Wu accused members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and pundits on political talk shows of obliquely referring to him as a meddler in the procurement of a vaccine, which he said resulted in Internet users blatantly accusing him by name.
The Chinese-language China Times reported that KMT Taipei City Councilor Yu Shu-hui (游淑慧) and former KMT legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) accused a DPP lawmaker surnamed Wu of bringing representatives of Taiwan Biotech and Jacobson Pharma to meet with Central Epidemic Command Center officials about purchasing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
The report quoted Sun as saying that the talks led to a new deal that raised the price from NT$31 to NT$40 per dose for the government, adding that Sun, Yu and other KMT politicians claimed that the new price would allow Wu to pocket a US$300 million kickback.
Asked about the accusations, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said: “No lawmakers interfered in the vaccine procurement policy, or came to lobby us to purchase doses from a certain firm.”
The center has mechanisms in place for vaccine procurement, including a legal team and an evaluation team, which are overseen by top center officials, he said.
“I can say with 100 percent certainty that no lawmakers came to lobby us, as they cannot meddle in the vaccine procurement process,” Chen said.
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