The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday filed a second lawsuit against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) and former legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) over their allegations that DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was involved in land speculation and illegal lobbying of the Taipei City Government for a rezoning project in Taipei’s Neihu District (內湖).
DPP lawyers Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) and Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) filed a lawsuit with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office at about 2pm, accusing Alex Tsai and Chiu of violating Article 90 of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act (總統副總統選舉罷免法), DPP spokesperson Ruan Jhao-syong (阮昭雄) said.
“The allegations that Chiu Yi and Alex Tsai have made are fictional, not factual, and the petition of objection that Alex Tsai showed was part of legal procedures in a rezoning project, and was not a special privilege [granted to Tsai Ing-wen],” Ruan said.
Ruan was referring to a news conference in the legislature during which Alex Tsai and Chiu accused Tsai Ing-wen and her brother, Tsai Ying-yang (蔡瀛陽), of trying to illegally lobby the Taipei City Government by submitting a petition of objection.
According to the petition that Alex Tsai presented, Tsai Ing-wen and her brother requested that the city government void the government-initiated rezoning, that no more than 40 percent of the expropriated land be used for public facilities and that no gas station be included in the project.
However, it is part of legal procedures for the city government to collect opinions from landowners before making a final decision on a rezoning or urban renewal project, and it is completely legal, Ruan said.
Chiu also denied at the news conference that he apologized to Tsai Ing-wen in court after he was sued for making allegations in a political commentary show that she was behind the shooting of KMT Central Standing Committee member Sean Lien (連勝文) in 2010.
However, Ruan presented a copy of the court transcript, in which Chiu was quoted as saying that he was saddened by the fact that Lien was shot at the time, and was unable to gather more accurate information as he was on the show.
“As the remark might have created a negative image of the candidate, I felt anxious afterwards, and therefore would like to express my apologies,” Chiu said in the transcript.
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