KMT candidate sues magazine for graft claim

Tu Li-hwa, representing the KMT in Hualien, denied a report in Next magazine alleging that she had mishandled funding while heading the eastern county's agricultural department.

She filed a complaint with the Hualien District Prosecutors Office, accusing the magazine of libel and violating the election law.

She is seeking NT$100 million in damages from Next.

Next, in its latest issue published yesterday, claimed that Tu had overcharged members of an agricultural group for a fact-finding trip to Britain that her department had helped arrange in June 2008.

The excess amount of NT$600,000 subsequently went missing, the magazine said.

Tu was also involved in a case of alleged conflict of interest when she headed a screening committee to select the winning bidder for a project concerning produce marketing in Canada in August 2007, Next claimed.

Tu and the winner had traveled to Canada together in March 2007, it said.

But the candidate said she had complied with the rules and regulations while handling the projects under the supervision of auditing departments.

She said that she was an honest civil servant, but she has been plagued by frequent smear attempts since she entered the KMT primary for the Hualien magistrate seat.

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