Taipei prosecutors said Monday that they do not rule out the possibility of launching a new round of investigations into the Chung Hsing Bills Finance case, which was originally closed more than two years ago, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.
In the run-up to the March 2000 presidential election, the KMT filed a lawsuit against PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) -- a former KMT secretary-general -- for embezzling party funds totaling around NT$360 million and forging party seals to open bank accounts in the party's name without authorization.
In 2001, Taipei prosecutors decided not to indict Soong. The decision was made based on Soong's explanation that he was using the money to carry out special tasks ordered by then KMT chairman Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
According to a front-page report in a Chinese-language newspaper yesterday, Taipei prosecutors may decide to further investigate the case after their recent interview with Lee, a key figure in the alleged scandal.
The report said that Lee denied many of Soong's allegations during the interview last week. He also clarified his role in the scandal in several respects.
Soong had told Taipei prosecutors that, during his term as both secretary-general of the KMT and chairman of the KMT-controlled Huahsia Investment Holding Company (
During the interview, Lee said that he knew nothing about these accounts, claiming that he never authorized Soong to open any accounts to handle special party tasks. He also said that he did not order Soong to hand over these accounts to his successor when Soong left his post, proving that he knew nothing about them.
Lee also said that a large amount of money -- including political donations made to the party and profits of the KMT-controlled Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC, 中廣) -- was later transferred by Soong to about 20 private accounts.
Lee said that he never allowed Soong to transfer party funds to any private accounts, and that this would never have happened if he had known about it beforehand.
Lee admitted that he did approve Soong's suggestion of setting up a special account to take care of the family of the former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國). But he said that the limit of the special fund was about NT$26 million -- not more than NT$60 million, as Soong claimed.
Lee said that Soong was using the account for the Chiang family to divert people's attention.
Yesterday, Taipei District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Chen Hung-ta (
PFP legislator and spokesman Hwang Yih-jiau (
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS