The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office yesterday announced it would not prosecute PFP Chairman James Soong (
The high-profile Chung Hsing Bills Finance case (
It was alleged that Soong had embezzled two separate sums. The prosecution said that one sum, totalling around NT$360 million, was the KMT's property. The other was a surplus of donations and KMT subsidies for Soong in his 1994 Taiwan provincial governor campaign, which amounted to some NT$582.3 million.
The prosecution said its investigation confirmed Soong's claim that NT$360 million of the KMT funds deposited in accounts opened by Soong were for the party's use, namely taking care of late president and KMT chairman Chiang Ching-kuo's (蔣經國) family and carrying out the party's political tasks.
"Therefore, despite the fact that the KMT money was deposited in accounts other than those of the KMT under Soong's instruction ? it cannot be said that Soong had intent to embezzle the money ? nor had Soong's use of the money harmed the KMT's interests," officiating prosecutor Hung Tai-wen (
The PFP welcomed the ruling. A spokesman said yesterday on behalf of Soong, who is currently abroad, that Soong was "grateful to the prosecution for its investigation efforts and to his supporters for their persistent support."
"This has proven that Soong did not steal a cent," the spokesman Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) said.
Soong's wife, Chen Wan-shui (
Regarding the embezzlement allegations, the prosecution said that according to its interviews of several KMT politicians and Chiang family members, Soong did use the KMT money to fund the party's candidates in the 1992 legislative election and 1994 provincial councilor election, as well as to subsidize Chiang's family.
In the forgery allegation, the KMT claimed that Soong forged seals of the party and opened bank accounts in the party's name without permission. However, the prosecution said Soong's behavior did not constitute forgery.
"The elements of the offence of forging private documents include that a person who has no rights to produce the documents ... and that the contents of the documents are false," according to the decision.
The prosecution said that, as secretary-general of the KMT, Soong had the right to produce the documents and so it could not be construed as forgery.
The prosecution said that because Soong was acting in the belief that he was carrying out tasks asked of him by the party chairman, "it is obvious that he had no criminal intent to forge documents."
With regard to the fraud and breach of trust accusations, in which Soong's opponents claimed he misappropriated a surplus of the funds he raised from the public for his provincial gubernatorial campaign, the prosecution also said Soong's behavior did not constitute an offence.
"Soong raised that money in the name of his campaign and he ran and won the election, so it is not fraud," prosecutors said.
"Donations are a gift. The purpose of the campaign donation was for the candidate's election, not for any commission after the election. Therefore it is not about breach of trust," prosecutors said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
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
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat