Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday said he was innocent and dismissed the corruption charges against him as groundless.
In a speech made one day after being indicted on charges of embezzling state funds, the 88-year-old said he did not want to go into details of the case as they “simply came out of the prosecutors’ own heads,” adding that as an old man, “I don’t fear death, let alone these oppression tactics.”
Lee, the nation’s first democratically elected president, is the second former president to be charged with corruption and money laundering after Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was found guilty by the Supreme Court last year.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Panel (SIP) on Thursday accused Lee and a top aide of illegally siphoning US$7.8 million from secret diplomatic funds used by the National Security Bureau (NSB) and laundering the money during his terms in office from 1988 to 2000.
If convicted, Lee could face at least 10 years in prison, although prosecutors have indicated that they may ask for more a lenient sentence because of his age.
Lee looked unfazed last night when he spoke at a fundraising dinner for the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), a political party he founded in 2001.
Lee told the audience that when he served as president, the only thing he thought about was the interests of the country and the people, adding that he had always been able to separate his private assets and public assets during his tenure.
Lee said that he was determined to defend his innocence and would not be beaten easily.
“If there is no justice in this world, there is God,” Lee said.
In his speech, Lee took a swipe at President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), accusing Ma of incompetence and saying his administration’s China-leaning policy was the reason behind Taiwan’s loss of international competitiveness and the increasing wealth gap.
“There is no other way to change the country unless this leader is replaced,” Lee said, reiterating his slogan to “vote against Ma to protect Taiwan.”
Speaking at the same occasion after Lee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said the timing of Lee’s indictment was “suspicious.”
Judicial cases “should not be used as tools to serve political interests or for election purposes,” she said.
Given Taiwan’s unique past and circumstances, Tsai said that the legal basis of many “secret funds” and “underground programs” should be re-examined by the government and that it should never be “selective” in handling judicial cases.
Tsai reaffirmed the collaboration between the DPP and the TSU in the upcoming presidential and legislative elections in January, adding that history showed that whenever the two parties chose not to collaborate, the election results were less than desirable.
Earlier yesterday, TSU Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝), noting Lee’s indictment came 15 days after Prosecutor-General Huang Shyh-ming’s (黃世銘) return from a seven-day visit to China, alleged that it was made under Beijing’s instructions.
Huang Kun-huei said it was a Chinese attempt to weaken Lee’s influence ahead of the elections and to malign pro-localized Taiwanese politicians with the label of corruption.
Meanwhile, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was quoted by his office as saying that Lee’s indictment was a “dirty electioneering trick” with Tsai as the target.
Chen also dismissed media reports saying it was his filing of a complaint that led to Lee’s indictment.
Chen, currently serving a 17-year term for corruption and money laundering, has called his case a vendetta carried out by Ma’s government in retaliation for his pro--independence stance while in power.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
RSS