Central Motion Picture Corp (CMPC, 中影) chairman Gou Tai-chiang (郭台強) yesterday denied involvement in an alleged plot a decade ago to kill former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) and said he would sue his accusers, as well as Sanlih Entertainment Television (SET-TV, 三立電視).
Gou, who is also chairman of Cheng Uei Precision Industry Co (正崴), was on Thursday accused by former businessman Weng Ping-yao (翁炳堯) and attorney Chou Wu-jung (周武榮) of colluding with former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in 2007 to hire Weng to kill Tsai amid a power struggle over KMT assets.
Weng and Chou repeated the accusations on a SET-TV political talk show, naming Gou’s wife, Lor Yu-chen (羅玉珍), former CMPC vice president Chuang Wan-chun (莊婉均) and former Tainan County Council speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) of the KMT as accomplices.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Gou told a news conference yesterday that he had never met Weng and denied having anything to do with a July 2007 shooting incident at Tsai’s office in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港).
Nobody was injured in the shooting.
“SET-TV allowed Weng and Chou to appear on its programs to make exaggerated claims,” Gou said.
“They and other guests made unsubstantiated allegations and told fabricated stories. These have resulted in severe damage to my reputation,” he said.
“Therefore I will file a lawsuit against Weng and his lawyer Chou over the false accusation,” Gou added.
“I will also sue SET-TV for aggravated defamation,” he said.
“I did not benefit in the CMPC case, but was embroiled in later developments in which I am actually the one who was negatively affected,” Gou said.
Weng on Thursday said that he was promised NT$320 million (US$10.54 million at the current exchange rate) to kill Tsai, as it was 10 percent of CMPC’s assessed value of NT$3.2 billion.
He said he was only a hired gun and the deal was brokered by Lee.
Weng spoke to reporters before reporting to prosecutors and asking that a probe into the shooting be reopened.
He was questioned by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
Weng and Chou said that the KMT at the time of the shooting was electing members to its Central Standing Committee and other executive positions.
There was a power struggle over party assets, with the sale of CMPC and other KMT-controlled media companies at the center of a clash between Ma, who was president and KMT chairman at the time, and Tsai, Weng said.
“Tsai refused to resign as CMPC chairman, so Ma struck a deal with Gou, Lor and Chuang for those three to take control of CMPC,” Weng said, adding that: “I was instructed to kill Tsai.”
“It was reasoned that if Tsai was killed, Gou would become CMPC chairman,” he said.
Weng said he had done the job, despite only shooting two bullets at Tsai’s office as a warning.
Tsai understood the message and resigned as CMPC chairman the next day, Weng said.
“The KMT officials reneged on their promise,” Weng said. “I was cheated out of the money, later being told I would only get NT$20 million.”
“I never even got that amount,” he said. “I only received NT$200,000.”
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