A group made up of 26 civic organizations yesterday sued the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Panel (SIP), accusing it of forging documents, subornation of perjury and abuse of judicial power.
Led by Taiwanese National Party (TNP) Chairman Huang Hua (黃華), the groups filed the lawsuit with the Taipei District Court against the SIP, which they said cut a deal with former -Chinatrust -Financial Holding Co (中信金控) vice chairman Jeffrey Koo Jr (辜仲諒) to testify against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in an attempt to imprison him.
Koo, who was involved in a scandal over Chinatrust’s bid for rival Mega Financial Holdings Co (兆豐金控) — known as the Red Fire Case (紅火案), after the name of the offshore company used to conduct the illegal transaction — returned to Taiwan in 2008 after evading an arrest warrant and hiding in Japan for two years.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The banker testified at the time that he had donated about NT$300 million (US$10.4 million) of his illegal profits to Chen, currently serving a 17-and-a-half-year term for corruption and money laundering, as a kickback.
Koo’s lawyers told the Taiwan High Court in May that Koo did not remit the money to Chen, adding that he testified out of fear of being detained upon his return to Taiwan.
Koo was released on bail after returning from Japan and was sentenced to nine years in prison in October last year.
The SIP, including former prosecutor Yueh Fang-ju (越方如) who flew to Japan to persuade Koo to return, is suspected of coercing Koo to commit perjury, Huang said.
Despite the SIP’s conclusion on July 4 that no prosecutor had abused his power in the Chen case, the civic groups decided to file the lawsuit in the interest of upholding social justice and human rights, he said.
The groups also said former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) recent indictment on charges of embezzling state funds was a “similar act of oppression against Taiwanese.”
The Lee and Chen cases were both acts of “political oppression,” Huang said.
Dozens of members of the groups chanted slogans calling for “judicial reform” and saying “Taiwanese are innocent” in front of the court.
They also urged the establishment of a jury system.
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