‘LOOKED DELICIOUS’: A 51-year-old man accused of starting the gossip said that he was not politically motivated and just wanted to share it with friends

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 11, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

A Taichung-based music teacher on Wednesday was questioned for allegedly spreading rumors online that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and other officials at a Cabinet meeting had eaten extravagant lunchboxes that cost nearly NT$7,000 each, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday.

The 51-year-old man surnamed Liao (廖) faces charges of contravening the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) by “spreading rumors in a way that is sufficient to undermine public order and peace,” CIB Seventh Investigation Corps Deputy Captain Hsu Chao-pin (徐釗斌) said.

Investigators reviewing social media records to determine where the rumor had started found that Liao’s post on Facebook on Friday last week was the earliest to claim that Tsai and Cabinet officials had eaten the luxury seafood lunch, Hsu said.

A screen grab of the post showed a photograph of a tree-layer wooden lunchbox packed with seafood items, accompanied by text allegedly written by Liao.    [FULL  STORY]