Recordings yesterday emerged with apparent conversations relating to threats and intimidation allegedly being uttered by a supervisor in Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Ann Kao’s (高虹安) office toward staff members.
Kao, who is the party’s Hsinchu mayoral candidate in tomorrow’s election, has been involved in controversies and alleged financial improprieties connected with her legislative office.
In the recordings, a supervisor at Kao’s legislative office allegedly threatens an assistant Kao fired, after the assistant requested wages owed and severance pay.
Photo: CNA
The recordings were presented to media by a person named Liu Yu (劉宇), who acted as an independent whistle-blower.
A female is heard on the recording, identified by Liu as a supervisor, speaking on behalf of Kao, implying that there would be consequences for going to arbitration or litigation on wage dispute.
“You have to know that our boss was vice president at Hon Hai Technology Group ... they have about 200 or 300 lawyers in its legal section... So there is no need for that, and our boss would not want to take that step,” she is heard saying.
An apparent sexual harassment situation is also heard being discussed on the recording, which allegedly involved a male who harassed a female colleague.
In the recording, the person Liu identified as the supervisor is heard saying: “If you speak publicly on this matter, everyone will be hurt... I will recommend to the legislator that someone has to be dismissed, and it will likely be [the female assistant].”
Kao said the audio recording does not present the proper context of the situation, and it has infringed on individual rights of the office supervisor and herself.
“We are discussing this matter with a lawyer,” Kao said.
Meanwhile, former TPP official Lin Guan-nian (林冠年) said he turned over computer data, audio recordings and office accounting documents, obtained from employees in Kao’s legislative office, to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
Following judicial complaints filed earlier this month regarding allegations of wage fraud and embezzlement, prosecutors on Thursday last week began investigating Kao and her boyfriend, Lee Chung-ting (李忠庭).
Lin — who withdrew as the TPP mayoral candidate in Hsinchu County’s Jhubei City (竹北) after an alleged impaired driving incident — called on Kao to resign out of “fairness” to prosecutors.
“I ask Kao to resign her legislator position now, so prosecutors do not come under political pressure in this case,” he said.
Former assistants have accused Kao of wage fraud, embezzlement and illegal payroll deductions that allegedly were used to pay Kao’s personal expenditures.
Judicial investigators said that Kao and Lee could face forgery and embezzlement charges, along with breaches of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
‘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
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
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
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