Cheng Hung-huei (鄭宏輝) has been dismissed from his role as an unpaid administrative consultant to the Cabinet, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said on Wednesday, following sexual assault allegations against the former Hsinchu city councilor.
At a morning news conference, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Yu Shu-hui (游淑慧) accused Cheng of sexually assaulting a woman while giving her a ride home two years ago.
Cheng, a Democratic Progressive Party member who serves as chairman of Chunghwa Telecom (中華電信) subsidiary Senao International (神腦國際), denied the allegations, calling it a political attack.
Photo: Taipei Times files
Asked about the issue before an afternoon news conference, the premier said that Cheng had been dismissed in accordance with government regulations, as implication in a sexual harassment case would have contravened eligibility criteria at the time of employment.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has also been asked to set up a committee to investigate the allegations, Chen added.
Earlier in the day, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said he had requested that Chunghwa Telecom suspend Cheng and launch an investigation.
If the committee finds wrongdoing, the telecom has been instructed to dismiss Cheng, he added.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
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