Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday threatened to take legal action against the Chinese-language weekly Next Magazine if it failed to clarify its accusations alleging his role in a corruption scandal.
In defending his innocence against the allegations, Wu said he has applied for telephone call records of all his family members to dismiss the allegation that calls were made to Wu Men-chung (吳門忠), a family friend who was allegedly involved in the case.
Wu Den-yih denied that his wife, Tsai Ling-yi (蔡令怡), had made a telephone call to Wu Men-chung last week to confirm his family relations with Cheng Tsai-mei (程彩梅). Cheng is the girlfriend of businessman Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥), who allegedly bribed former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) with NT$63 million (US$2.15 million) to secure contracts with China Steel Corp (中鋼) and its subsidiaries.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Wu Men-chung, a votes broker for the vice president in his Nantou County hometown, is the father of the daughter-in-law of Chen’s girlfriend.
Wu Men-chung admitted on Wednesday that he had accepted NT$10 million from Chen for introducing him to local legislators for help, including Lin.
The vice president yesterday said he and his family had no knowledge about Wu Men-chung’s behavior and said he would prove his and his wife’s innocence by producing their telephone records.
“Whether Wu Men-chung took money from Chen or not, it’s none of my business. I did not make any calls to him recently, and he did not call me or my wife, either,” he said.
“I am willing to accept public examination using magnifier, microscope or telescope. However, please do not make up stories with distorting mirrors,” he added.
Next Magazine has linked Wu Den-yih to the case by making accusations that Lin bragged about his relations with Wu Den-yih when asking for bribes from Chen, saying he was handling all of Wu Den-yih’s matters.
Wu yesterday asked the magazine for a correction and said he could file a lawsuit if it failed to clarify the issue.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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