Recordings yesterday emerged with apparent conversations relating to threats and intimidation allegedly being uttered by a supervisor in Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Ann Kao’s (高虹安) office toward staff members.
Kao, who is the party’s Hsinchu mayoral candidate in tomorrow’s election, has been involved in controversies and alleged financial improprieties connected with her legislative office.
In the recordings, a supervisor at Kao’s legislative office allegedly threatens an assistant Kao fired, after the assistant requested wages owed and severance pay.
Photo: CNA
The recordings were presented to media by a person named Liu Yu (劉宇), who acted as an independent whistle-blower.
A female is heard on the recording, identified by Liu as a supervisor, speaking on behalf of Kao, implying that there would be consequences for going to arbitration or litigation on wage dispute.
“You have to know that our boss was vice president at Hon Hai Technology Group ... they have about 200 or 300 lawyers in its legal section... So there is no need for that, and our boss would not want to take that step,” she is heard saying.
An apparent sexual harassment situation is also heard being discussed on the recording, which allegedly involved a male who harassed a female colleague.
In the recording, the person Liu identified as the supervisor is heard saying: “If you speak publicly on this matter, everyone will be hurt... I will recommend to the legislator that someone has to be dismissed, and it will likely be [the female assistant].”
Kao said the audio recording does not present the proper context of the situation, and it has infringed on individual rights of the office supervisor and herself.
“We are discussing this matter with a lawyer,” Kao said.
Meanwhile, former TPP official Lin Guan-nian (林冠年) said he turned over computer data, audio recordings and office accounting documents, obtained from employees in Kao’s legislative office, to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
Following judicial complaints filed earlier this month regarding allegations of wage fraud and embezzlement, prosecutors on Thursday last week began investigating Kao and her boyfriend, Lee Chung-ting (李忠庭).
Lin — who withdrew as the TPP mayoral candidate in Hsinchu County’s Jhubei City (竹北) after an alleged impaired driving incident — called on Kao to resign out of “fairness” to prosecutors.
“I ask Kao to resign her legislator position now, so prosecutors do not come under political pressure in this case,” he said.
Former assistants have accused Kao of wage fraud, embezzlement and illegal payroll deductions that allegedly were used to pay Kao’s personal expenditures.
Judicial investigators said that Kao and Lee could face forgery and embezzlement charges, along with breaches of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS