Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of directing KMT-led media to run online campaigns to discredit the government.
A DPP investigation has found that KMT officials hold executive or board-level roles at Olorin Media (歐絡因創意) and Fangho Media (方和傳媒), DPP spokeswoman Michelle Lin (林楚茵) told a news conference at party headquarters in Taipei, accusing the media of disseminating content maligning the government’s egg import policy and agriculture programs.
Both companies promoted the KMT in their past election campaigns and they are connected to Lin Yu-hong (林裕紘) and Hsu Che-pin (許哲賓), principal figures in the “Lin Bay Hao You” (Lin Bay 好油) incident, Lin said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Public prosecutors are investigating the case, after Lin Yu-hong shared posts alleging people complained of rotten eggs and he had received death threats, which he later admitted to asking Hsu, who worked for the KMT policy committee, to fabricate.
DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said that Lin Hong-yu has worked with KMT Yunlin County Commissioner Chang Li-shan (張麗善) for many years and her family had control over the county government along with most of agriculture product distribution and retailing channels of central and southern Taiwan.
Hsu previously worked as the Yunlin County Goverment’s social media editor, under then-department of information head Chou Po-yin (周柏吟), a former Fangho Media chairman, Michelle Lin said.
She also presented a document and said that Hsu had taken contract work with Olorin Media, a company founded by younger party members and second-generation KMT officials, along with a list of KMT-related executives and board members.
As “Lin Bay Hao You” incident suspects were detained, Olorin Media shut down its Web site, closed its Taipei office’s doors and rejected media inquiries, Nantou County Councilor Tsai Ming-hsuan (蔡銘軒) said.
KMT officials said Hsu was let go and the public should wait for the judicial investigation’s outcome, while adding that the two companies are commercial entities and the party does not have direct control over them.
KMT Policy Committee Head William Tseng (曾銘宗) has offered an apology to the public, but said he was not aware of case details and he had no right to ask individual staff members about their involvement in other activities.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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