The Control Yuan task force investigating the financial scandal surrounding independent presidential candidate James Soong (
"In order to assure financial order and to protect the privacy of customers, during the three-and-a-half hour meeting, we [the members of the Control Yuan] focused our questioning on leaks of [financial] information," said Lee Shen-yi (
In addition to questioning financial authorities, the Control Yuan yesterday also called on financial institutions involved in handling the questionable funds, such as the Chung Hsing Finance Bills Corp (
After meeting with Chiu yesterday, task force members said that the Bank of Taiwan had not been involved in the leaking of any data, but that Chung Hsing Bills Finance still needed further investigation.
"Judging from the documents offered by KMT legislator at-large Yang Chi-hsiung (
Ma said the Control Yuan had already asked Chung Hsing Bills Finance to produce the original, unaltered form as soon as possible, to allow them to continue looking into transactions related to alleged slush funds allegedly set up by Soong and his sister-in-law, Chen Pi-yun (
"The task force has also demanded that the finance ministry enhance [banks'] security measures for business clients, and to carefully look into whether any officials were involved in divulging business secrets to the media," Ma said.
As to the task force's next step, Ma said they would first try to restore the transaction form through computer simulation, instead of summoning Soong.
"Until the test results come out, we still lack concrete evidence that would determine who revealed this information," said Chao Ron-jaw (
The Control Yuan task force was established on Dec. 31 last year, aiming to piece together an accurate picture of the transactions involved in the scandal that has continued to dog the former provincial governor.
In related news yesterday, Soong's lawyer, Huang Tong-shong (
The Presidential Office, however, returned the letter to Huang yesterday, saying that the money was not Lee's, therefore he could not accept it.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
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