Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) brother-in-law yesterday defended his family’s gravel business, saying that many reports about his father were “fake news” designed to defame him.
“The seriously erroneous and false reports have defamed my father and I would like to urge President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to help put an end to such fake news, as she has vowed to fight disinformation nationwide,” Yunlin County Councilor Lee Ming-che (李明哲) told a news conference in the county.
Some media outlets have deliberately portrayed his father, Lee Jih-kuei (李日貴), who was a Yunlin County councilor between 1991 and 2003, as “an overbearing man who abused government power,” Lee Ming-che said.
New Power Party Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) on Friday last week said that Datong Gravel Co, owned by Lee Jih-kuei, allegedly obtained control of more than 1 hectare of public land near the Jhuoshui River (濁水溪) in 2000 after then-legislator Han, now the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, lobbied for NT$6.8 million (US$222,892 at the current exchange rate) to build an embankment that helped “fence off” of area used for the family’s gravel excavation operations.
On Sunday, local media reported that Yunlin County Council’s meeting minutes in 1992 showed that Lee Jih-kuei said at a question-and-answer session that “my Mainlander son-in-law [Han] decided to run for legislator after watching for two months the way I am making money.”
Certain media outlets interpreted the remarks as meaning that Han had aimed to become legislator after seeing the way that Lee had abused his power to make money, Lee Ming-che said.
In reality, Lee Jih-kuei meant that Han wanted to be a legislator to resolve problems in the gravel industry, he said.
To prove his point, Lee Ming-che provided copies of more meeting minutes from the session, which showed Lee Jih-kuei rejecting allegations that he was running a highly profitable gravel business with help from local authorities shortly before mentioning Han.
However, the minutes also quoted Lee Jih-kuei as criticizing, in vulgar terms, then-Changhua County commissioner Chou Ching-yu (周清玉) for banning all gravel excavation in the county.
Calling Chou a “crazy woman who randomly attacks people with a stick,” like a teacher who would “punish the entire class for one student’s mistake,” Lee Jih-kuei said that if he had been running his gravel business in Changhua, “I would catch that woman and take off her pants.”
Lee Ming-che read from prepared remarks and did not take any questions.
Asked about the news conference, Han said that the reports about Lee Jih-kuei’s gravel business has greatly disturbed the family.
“Lee Ming-che has explained everything very clearly, and I believe people will understand the frustration and sadness he is going through,” Han told reporters at a campaign event in Chiayi County.
Additional reporting by CNA
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS