TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) on Tuesday (Aug. 15) pressed charges against shareholders of Mirror TV, but was in return sued for defamation the same day.

Chen accused four prominent shareholders of giving false accounts this year to the National Communications Commission (NCC). She said the shareholders did not tell the NCC the truth about selling their shares in October 2022, which could have affected its approval for the launch of the TV station. 

Mirror TV, a subsidiary of Mirror Media, has been ensnared in controversy since its founding in 2020.  Opposition parties have accused it of receiving favorable treatment from the DPP government.

The company's former Chair Chen Chien-ping (陳建平) has also become a critic, accusing Mirror Media President Pei Wei (裴偉) — who is believed to have good ties with top DPP officials — of wrongdoing. In late June, the NCC approved the plan for Mirror TV to air its news service on Channel 86, with company shareholders not allowed to trade company stocks, among other restrictions, in exchange for the approval.

Shareholders include prominent media personalities, as well as business people from the technology and construction sectors. Pei Wei, who served as managing editor of the Taiwan edition of Next Magazine, Yageo Corporation Chair Pierre Chen (陳泰銘), Inventec Corporation founder Yeh Kou-i (葉國一), and WIN Semiconductors Chair Chen Chin-tsai (陳進財) have all been named as shareholders.

The NPP legislator said there is evidence showing the shareholders sold shares of Mirror TV in October 2022, but they did not disclose the sales transaction in their letters to the NCC. "The false accounting constitutes a violation of Article 214 under the country's criminal code at the expense of the public interest," she said.

Later in the day, Chen was sued by Mirror TV for defamation, which denies all the allegations. Chen hit back by saying she would not back down.