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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS