Former Taipei EasyCard Corp chairman Sean Lien (連勝文) yesterday filed a defamation lawsuit against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鐘小平) over accusations concerning Lien’s problematic investments when serving as the company’s chairman.
Chung, who is seeking the KMT’s nomination for the Taipei mayoral election, made the accusations during a political talk show on Thursday night, saying that the company had suffered a financial loss of more than NT$270 million (US$ 8.9 million) during Lien’s term because of Lien’s reinvestment of company money in foreign funds in 2008.
Lien yesterday rejected the accusations in a written statement and filed the lawsuit in the afternoon against Chung, asking for NT$5 million in compensation and demanding that the councilor issue apology statements in seven major local newspapers.
“It’s a painful decision to file a lawsuit against a party member,” Lien said, adding that Chung had obtained related documents from the company last year on the reinvestments, which showed that the company did not purchase any foreign funds during his term.
Lien, son of former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), is seen as the most competitive Taipei mayoral hopeful in the pan-blue camp. Accusations regarding his financial situation and past experiences have begun to emerge recently. He has not announced his election bid.
Chung yesterday said that he was “stating the truth” during the political talk show and that his comments were made with the support of credible documents.
“I have announced that I will run in the Taipei mayoral election, and Sean Lien could be unhappy about my move,” he said.
If Lien aimed to represent the KMT in the Taipei mayoral election, he should be forming a campaign team, not a team of lawyers, he added.
Chung is one of the KMT politicians who have join the mayoral race along with legislators Alex Tsai (蔡正元) and Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) and Taipei City councilors Yang Shi-chiu (楊實秋) and Chin Hui-chu (秦慧珠).
Although the young Lien remained tight-lipped about his decision on the race, support for him has been high. Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), who has maintained close relations with the Lien family, also appeared to be supportive of Sean Lien’s election bid, although he has denied having any successor in mind.
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Commuters in Taipei picked their way through debris and navigated disrupted transit schedules this morning on their way to work and school, as the city was still working to clear the streets in the aftermath of Typhoon Kong-rey. By 11pm yesterday, there were estimated 2,000 trees down in the city, as well as 390 reports of infrastructure damage, 318 reports of building damage and 307 reports of fallen signs, the Taipei Public Works Department said. Workers were mobilized late last night to clear the debris as soon as possible, the department said. However, as of this morning, many people were leaving messages
A Canadian dental assistant was recently indicted by prosecutors after she was caught in August trying to smuggle 32kg of marijuana into Taiwan, the Aviation Police Bureau said on Wednesday. The 30-year-old was arrested on Aug. 4 after arriving on a flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Chang Tsung-lung (張驄瀧), a squad chief in the Aviation Police Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, told reporters. Customs officials noticed irregularities when the woman’s two suitcases passed through X-ray baggage scanners, Chang said. Upon searching them, officers discovered 32.61kg of marijuana, which local media outlets estimated to have a market value of more than NT$50 million (US$1.56
RSS