Former Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso will sue the group of People First Party (PFP) law-makers who alleged she received a US$1 million "settlement" from President Chen Shui-bian (
According to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report, Moscoso said she was "going to put a halt to this campaign of calumnies."
Moscoso's statement on Thursday was in response to allegations made by PFP caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), Legislator Tsai Chung-han (蔡中涵) and UFO Radio chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), who said Chen had presented a check of US$1 million to her as a birthday gift and as a "settlement fee" for Chen's "improper dealings," apparently referring to sexual harassment.
"This could be the first of a series of lawsuits to be filed against those who seek to stain my reputation, here in Panama or abroad," Moscoso was quoted as saying in the AFP report.
Moscoso's presidency ended last month after an election loss to President Martin Torrijos in May.
Earlier on Thursday, Chen instructed lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to sue the three men. Instead of seeking financial compensation if the court finds for him, Chen has asked that the verdict be published and that the three apologize in five Chinese-language newspapers over three consecutive days.
Liu fired back yesterday by saying that Panamanian Prosecutor General Jose Antonio Sosa had announced an investigation into whether a NT$45 million donation to the Mar del Sur Foundation set up by Moscoso was mishandled. He said Moscoso's decision to sue him and his colleagues might have been motivated by the need to "protect herself," though he did not elaborate on this.
Liu also said there was a hint of Taiwanese-style politicking in Moscoso's threat to commence legal action.
"Since Chen has also filed suit against me, I just wonder if the Presidential Office is joining hands with outsiders to fight against Taiwanese [Taiwanren]?" Liu said at a news conference held yesterday afternoon.
Liu also speculated that Moscoso might use funds from the Mar del Sur Foundation for the lawsuit.
If so, he asked, "would there end up being a scenario in which Taiwanese taxpayers' money was being used to fight against a Taiwanese?"
Liu is a Mainlander.
In an unusual development, some of Liu's colleagues from the pan-blue alliance, including KMT Legislator Sun Kuo-hua (
At a separate news conference held earlier yesterday morning, Liu had acknowledged "there were flaws in [his Wednesday] remarks" and offered an apology, but only for using vulgar language.
He insisted however that he had not erred in pursuing issues concerning diplomatic donations and said that it was necessary to continue "hunting for the truth" of the matter.
In contrast to Liu's offer of an apology, Jaw yesterday said that he would sue Chen if the president did not clarify within three days whom he was referring to when he cited a poem verse on Thursday which read, "many devils are there where men are sparse" (
Chen was apparently describing his feelings about the pending lawsuit and the allegations made against him.
"If Chen does not make a clarification in three days, I will take legal action against him because I think the `devil' he was referring to was me," he said.
Presidential Office spokesman Chen Wen-tsung (
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Donald Trump vowed to reward his supporters, while President William Lai said he was confident the Taiwan-US partnership would continue Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the US early yesterday morning, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts. With a win in Wisconsin, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. As of press time last night, The Associated Press had Trump on 277 electoral college votes to 224 for US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee, with Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Michigan and Nevada yet to finalize results. He had 71,289,216 votes nationwide, or 51 percent, while Harris had 66,360,324 (47.5 percent). “We’ve been through so
RSS