Taiwan News
Date: 2016-02-23
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Tuan Yi-kang said Tuesday he planned to appeal a NT$600,000 (US$18,000) payment to President Ma Ying-jeou for accusing the head of state of accepting illegal political donations.

The Taipei District Court also sentenced Tuan to placing apologies in four major Chinese-language newspapers. Ma had asked for a NT$10 million (US$300,000) fine.

In 2014, political commentator Chen Min-feng alleged in an online piece that during a dinner in 2007, several business leaders in the high-tech sector had raised NT$200 million (US$6 million) in donations for Ma, who was preparing his first presidential election campaign at the time.

Tuan followed Chen’s accusations up with comments during talk shows and online saying that a company chief had donated NT$100 million (US$3 million) to Ma in an effort to facilitate a merger.

The president took the case to court, demanding NT$10 million each from Chen and Tuan.     [FULL  STORY]