Prosecutors yesterday indicted 11 people -- including former Hsinchu mayor Tsai Jen-chien (
Prosecutors charged Tsai, 49, with invading his ex-girlfriend's privacy by secretly filming her making love with a married businessman. They also recommended a one-year sentence on the invasion-of-privacy charge, which is a violation of the Criminal Code.
Chu, 36, became one of the best known women in the Chinese-speaking world after the tabloid magazine Scoop Weekly gave away VCDs allegedly showing her having sex with Tseng Chung-ming (
PHOTO: REUTERS
Chu's close friend, Kuo Yu-ling (
The prosecutor said an envious Kuo needed money to send her daughter to school abroad and sold the footage to Scoop Weekly, which mass-produced the VCDs and gave away them with copies of the magazine.
Kuo was also charged with invasion of privacy, undermining public morality, theft and forgery while Shen Yeh (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Prosecutors are seeking a four-year sentence for Kuo, who is currently in custody, and 26 months for Shen.
The magazine publisher has argued that the VCD was evidence backing up a story about Chu's alleged promiscuity.
"Kuo and Tsai were [Chu's] most trusted friend and lover. But they monitored her private love life after their relations soured," Chen said. "It is a most serious offense against privacy."
Neither Tsai nor Shen could be reached for comment yesterday. In Taiwan, defendants are not necessarily taken into custody until after a judge delivers a guilty verdict.
Tsai lost his re-election bid in the Dec. 1 mayoral elections. His affair with the New Party's Chu, had been the talk of town. The couple was once touted as the "golden boy and jade girl," which means "a perfect match" in Chinese.
The scandal has sparked a heated debate on morality and fears of Taiwan becoming an Orwellian society, especially among celebrities.
The Government Information Office seized thousands of copies of the magazine and accompanying VCDs when they hit newsstands in December. Officials said distribution of the videos violated obscenity laws.
The magazine has called the seizure "preposterous" and said the discs were not pornography but a move to "restore the face of the truth."
Chu was not available for comment after the indictment, but told reporters late on Wednesday after a vacation in Thailand that she wanted to do more good in the future.
"If society will accept me again, I want to do more good deeds," the Central News Agency quoted Chu as saying.
Chu's new book revealing her relationships with more than a dozen men -- including Tsai -- will soon hit the market.
However, she made no comment on the public's criticisms that accuse her of making money from the VCD scandal.
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