Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized radio talk host Clara Chou (周玉蔻), saying that she engaged in “groundless and malignant slander” against him.
Ma made the remarks during a hearing on his lawsuit against Chou at the Taiwan High Court in Taipei.
According to Ma, Chou has since December 2014 repeatedly slandered him by claiming on political talk shows that he has accepted NT$200 million (US$6.3 million) from Ting Hsin International Group to cover up a scandal involving edible oils.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Ma said that Chou, through such TV appearances, was able to make NT$1 million.
Having been a civil servant for more than 30 years, Ma said “fiscal integrity” was his life, adding that he could not accept the district court’s ruling that Chou was not culpable and therefore he filed an appeal to the Taiwan High Court.
The courts are a bastion of protection for the freedom of speech, but it should not be a guarantor for the abuse of such liberties, Ma said, adding the Republic of China (ROC) is a nation that is governed by law and should not tolerate the “special few” who are able to slander others without proof.
Chou told reporters after leaving the session that Ma’s speech was very emotional.
“That Ma has turned toward personal insults in court saddens me. I am further surprised that he treats journalism a tool for money. His remarks about me show the naivete and ignorance of Ma in terms of judicial law,” Chou said.
The collegiate bench at the Taiwan High Court yesterday summoned My-Formosa.com vice chairman Wu Tzu-chia (吳子嘉) and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) for questioning.
Wu said he had evidence that the Ma campaign team received NT$1 billion in political donations from Ting Hsin, adding that the funds were paid to the team and not to Ma.
When asked by Judge Chen Hsiao-pei (陳筱佩) to state his source, Wu said he would rather be fined than reveal his sources.
Hsieh said that the fomer Ma administration should have been more active when the Ting Hsin food scandal broke in 2014.
Hsieh said his feelings regarding such a letdown caused him to hypothesize that if someone took political donations from the company, it would be difficult to carry through the public’s self-imposed ban on Ting Hsin products.
However, Hsieh said his comments were not backed by any evidence.
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
RSS