By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) spokesmen yesterday filed a defamation lawsuit against Taipei City Councilor Lin Ruei-tou (林瑞圖) over a bookmaker controversy that appears to be turning into a major issue in the presidential campaign.
In a political show aired on TV on Saturday night, Lin accused DPP spokesmen Liang Wen-jie (梁文傑) and Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) of accepting a free trip and gambling chips worth 500,000 Macau patacas (US$62,000) from Chiayi-based bookmaker Chen Ying-chu (陳盈助) at a Macau casino owned by Chen.
Liang told a press conference yesterday that neither he nor Cheng knew Chen, adding that the Macau trip was personal and unrelated to the bookmaker.
Liang said Lin spread the false information on TV despite knowing what he said was not true.
With about seven weeks left before the Jan. 14 elections, the DPP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) have recently filed a series of lawsuits against each other.
The lawsuit filed yesterday was the fourth the DPP has filed over the past week, including a defamation lawsuit against several KMT members, including KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), over what they say are false accusations, and another lawsuit against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義).
The DPP also filed a lawsuit against Ma and Wu on Nov. 23, accusing the two of corruption while organizing the Republic of China centenary celebration events.
Lawsuits have also been filed on behalf of DPP legislators Chen Min-wen (陳明文) and Yu Tien (余天), as well as other DPP colleagues against three politicians, including Chiu, who accuse them of associating with Chen.
On the KMT side, Ma has filed a defamation lawsuit against the DPP for disseminating what he described as an unfounded report claiming that he met with Chen in September to raise campaign funds.