The Presidential Office yesterday tried to pre-empt news of the indictment of the first lady by holding an unscheduled press conference, claiming that prosecutors might be confused because the president couldn't reveal "secret" information related to the case.
Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai (
Cho made the remarks at an informal press conference he called at 11:40am yesterday.
Last-minute
As rumors started to spread around noon that prosecutors were preparing to wrap up their investigation into Chen's alleged embezzlement from the fund, Cho called a last-minute press conference, indicating that he may have been aware that the first lady would be indicted, even before prosecutors officially announced the indictment at 4pm.
As of press time, the Presidential Office had made no further comments about the indictment.
Cho said that the Presidential Office hoped that prosecutors would not misunderstand the president's situation, because he couldn't reveal "extremely confidential" things to them.
Cho restated Chen's previous statement that the president never stole from the state fund, saying that the entire fund was used for public affairs.
Chen last month survived a second parliamentary vote aimed at ousting him after the opposition failed to garner enough support.
The first recall motion to drive him out of office failed to pass the legislature in June.
According to a story by the Central News Agency, Cho said the main part of the state fund was spent on six major projects.
Expenditure
The president spent NT$35 million on "lobbying," NT$6.6 million on "supporting democratic activities," NT$2.5 million on "the nation's efforts to join the UN," NT$3.2 million on "supporting human-rights activities," and NT$10 million on "expanding the nation's international space."
The amount used for these six projects in 2003 and 2004 was NT$59.3million, Cho added.
When asked why he had called a press conference, Cho said he had no specific reason, but said that the Presidential Office had recently finished sorting out relevant receipts.
In a related development, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday called off a planned visit to Penghu and returned to Taipei.
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
RSS