Former Taipei Financial Center Corp (台北金融大樓公司) chairwoman Diana Chen (陳敏薰) said during her perjury trial yesterday at the Taipei District Court that she had only expressed an interest in the position of chairperson at Grand Cathay Securities Corp (大華證券), but did not ask former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) or his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) for help in attaining the position.
On June 3, she was listed as a perjury defendant along with Chen Shui-bian’s daughter Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), his son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and his son-in-law Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘).
Prosecutors allege she purposely gave false testimony during questioning last year about the former first family’s alleged money-laundering activities. They also allege Diana Chen bribed the former first lady with NT$10 million (US$300,000) to obtain her position as chairwoman of Taipei Financial Center Corp.
PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Appearing as a witness, Chen Mu-tsai (陳木在), former chairman of China Development Financial Holding Co (中華開發金控), testified that he had three meetings with Diana Chen, who expressed an interest in taking the position of chairperson at Grand Cathay Securities Corp.
At that time, Diana Chen told him because Taipei Financial Center was not her area of expertise, she would prefer the position at China Development, Chen Mu-tsai said.
Presiding Judge Chen Hsing-pang (陳興邦) asked Diana Chen why she asked the former president to telephone former finance minister Lin Chuan (林全) if she did not want the position at Taipei Financial Center, to which Diana Chen replied: “I never asked the former president for help [with such matters].”
She told the court she had talked to Wu about applying for the position at Grand Cathay Securities Corp, but she had never asked Wu or the former president to interfere in the company’s personnel decisions.
Diana Chen turned down the presiding judge’s suggestion that she admit to the charges against her to receive a lighter sentence, instead insisting that she was innocent.
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
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