President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday offered an apology over the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal, vowing that he will never allow the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government to follow in the corrupt footsteps of the former government.
Chen made the remarks while on the campaign trail in Ilan County.
"I feel sorry and ashamed about Chen Che-nan's (
The president said that Chen Che-nan, as deputy secretary-general of the presidential office at the time of the trip in 2002, should not have gone abroad with businessmen and should not have gone to a casino.
The president offered his apologies for being unable to prevent such misconduct from occurring.
"[Chen Che-nan] went to South Korea after getting off work on a Friday night. His plane's departure was in the middle of the night. I had no idea about his schedule. He neither reported to me nor asked me for leave beforehand," the president said.
The president restated that he has nothing to do with the KRTC scandal and that he hasn't seen the documents regarding the importing of Thai labors. "If I am found to be involved in this case, or any other corruption then I will step down," he said. "It's the deliberate intention of the opposition to drag me into this case."
The president said that the DPP government has investigated many financial scandals during its tenure -- the former Chung Shing Commercial Bank (中興銀行) chairman Wang Yu-yun (王玉雲), Liu Sung-fan (
"They are all Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians. The KMT can have this kind of corruption, but the DPP is not allowed to follow suit," he added.
Chen Che-nan announced late on Friday night his decision to quit the DPP amid demands from within the party that he be kicked out.
DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (
The investigative panel formed by the DPP would also release its report on the case during the meeting, Su said.
He said that as a party of ideals and discipline, the DPP will not tolerate any illicit conduct by its members.
Saying the DPP should reform, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday also reminded the public not to come to any hasty conclusions regarding Chen Che-nan before the KRTC investigation is complete.
Presidential Office Spokesman Chen Wen-tsung (陳文宗) also urged KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday to ask KMT legislators to review the president's list of Control Yuan nominees as soon as possible.
The Control Yuan has had no members since Feb. 1 as a result of the pan-blue camp's refusal to review the member nomination list recommended by the president.
"The presidential office has transferred the Chen Che-nan case to the Control Yuan for investigation. Ma should push the review procedure through so that the Control Yuan can resume its work," the spokesman said.
Ma yesterday said "it's impossible to believe that the president knew nothing about the whereabouts of the top official in his office... if the DPP government does not apologize, there is no future for the party."
Ma said the president's statements only made him seem more untrustworthy.
If the government doesn't make up its mind to investigate the case, the whole of Taiwan "will not trust the government," said Ma, adding the recent development of the whole scandal has caused some damage to national security.
"I think it is time to activate the national security mechanism to investigate the scandal," he said.
Mud-slinging
While Ma criticized the president, the pan-green camp threw his words back at him and lambasted Ma for not knowing the whereabouts of his former staff member, Ho Hung-jung (何鴻榮), the former chief of the Taipei City Bureau of Civil Affairs.
Ho was one of Ma's closest associates and resigned in September after allegedly having an affair with his secretary and going on a secret trip to Bali.
In other developments, Kaohsiung prosecutors yesterday said Chen Che-nan was treated to three foreign trips by a laborer brokerage firm and that the prosecutors are now close to discovering whether Chen also took bribes from the company.
"The brokerage firm Huapan Co (
Chen, who was charged with corruption, was released on NT$500,000 (US$15,000) bail on Friday evening.
Trips
Prosecutors said that in November 2002, when Chen Che-nan went to South Korea's Cheju Island with former KRTC vice chairman Chen Min-hsien (陳敏賢), former speaker of the Taiwan Provincial Assembly Liu Ping-wei (劉炳偉), general manager of Huapan Co Yen Shih-hua (嚴世華) and his wife Wang Tsai-pi (王彩碧), one of the Huapan's subsidiary company, Everpro Manpower Co (EMC) (華永毅公司), paid for his trip.
Prosecutors also said that in July 2002 and in November last year, both Chens and Liu went to Thailand twice, with EMC paying for Chen Che-nan's trip.
Kaohsiung prosecutors also summoned Liu for questioning on Friday, but he did not respond. Prosecutors said they would issue a warrant for Liu's arrest if he fails to report to prosecutors.
Additional reporting by Rich Chang
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training
RSS