Allegations that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) received a NT$200 million (US$6.2 million) off-the-books political donation from Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團) made by media personality Clara Chou (周玉蔻) are being investigated by the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, while Ma said yesterday that he was suing Chou in an individual capacity to defend the dignity of the head of state.
Chou has cited anonymous sources at the National Security Council that said the “Ma administration” — which she said referred to Ma himself — had privately accepted a NT$200 million political donation, severely tarnishing the image of the Ma administration as honest.
Chou said that Senhwa Biosciences (生華生物科技) chairman Benny Hu (胡定吾) was a key person in the process and the relationship between Hu, Ma and Ting Hsin had caused the Ma administration to cover up for Ting Hsin during food safety scandals earlier this year.
Photo: Pan Shao-tang, Taipei Times
SID Director Kuo Wen-tung (郭文東) said the division has assigned Prosecutor Lin Cheng-tsung (林承宗) to head the investigation of alleged violations of the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法).
The case is still in the evidence-gathering stage and there is no clear defendant as of yet, Kuo said, adding that the division was not ruling out questioning Chou.
The SID is only gathering evidence to determine whether the case would fall under the division’s jurisdiction, Kuo said, adding that if that was not the case, it would be transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
The district prosecutors’ office would be kept in the loop during the investigation, Kuo said.
Presidential Office spokesperson Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國) said yesterday that the allegations were baseless slander and added that Ma had applauded the SID’s initiative to investigate the allegations.
The president has expressed his hope that the judiciary would be able to clear up the incident as soon as possible, Ma Wei-kuo said.
Ma Wei-kuo said the government’s stance on the food safety scandals involving Ting Hsin was that the judiciary should investigate the cases and punish violators of the law heavily.
Meanwhile, in response to Ma Ying-jeou’s litigation against her, Chou said yesterday that she had mentioned specific sources in all recent reports and should the case be taken to court she could prove that all her claims are based on truth by calling witnesses to the stand.
“Since I am the defendant in the suit Ma raised against me, I need not make any statements to the SID that would be disadvantageous to me,” Chou said.
However, she added that an exception could be made if the SID wished to look deeper into the possibility that the Ma administration has been covering for Ting Hsin.
Chou said that by law, the legality of the political donations lay within the jurisdiction of the Control Yuan and not the SID, adding that she would decide whether she would talk with the SID concerning the case today.
Additional reporting by CNA
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS