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Ex-mayor `has nothing to hide'

Former Hsinchu City mayor Tsai Jen-chien, center, ia mobbed by reporters as he leaves the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office yesterday. Tsai was summoned for questioning about the Chu Mei-feng sex-VCD case. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

Tsai Jen-chien (蔡仁堅), former mayor of Hsinchu and ex-boyfriend of Chu Mei-feng (璩美鳳), said he had nothing to hide after being questioned by prosecutors yesterday.

Tsai arrived at the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office at 10:30am but refused to comment to waiting members of the press.

Prosecutors issued a summons on Wednesday requiring him to attend a second round of questioning, following an initial interview on Dec. 29.

Prosecutors suspect he may have information that could help them identify the mastermind behind the alleged secret filming of Chu, a former director of Hsinchu's Bureau of Cultural Affairs, while she was having sex with a married man. The video was released on a VCD bun-dled with Scoop Weekly magazine on Dec. 17.

Prosecutor Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村) asked Tsai's lawyer, Hsu Wen-ping (許文彬), not to attend yesterday's interview. While the interview was in progress, Hsu told the Taipei Times that, as a potential witness rather than a suspect or defendant, Tsai was entitled to have a lawyer with him throughout the interview.

He said that, under Article 21-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, prosecutors may only ask lawyers not to attend interviews of suspects or defendants.

"I don't understand why pro-secutors would ask me not to be there," he said. "However, on our way here, Tsai told me that he was very calm and that he had nothing to hide because he has done nothing illegal."

Following the interview, Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達), a spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office, was asked to explain why Hsu was not allowed to attend the interview.

"That was the prosecutors' request," Chen said, adding that "Tsai was very cooperative during the interview."

"The prosecutors had various questions and he has explained and answered all of them. I must say that his testimony today has helped prosecutors a lot," he said. "We might summon him again and he told us that he will do whatever it takes to help us."

Questioned by reporters at a press conference after the inter-view, Tsai refused to comment about why he had accompanied Kuo Yu-ling (郭玉鈴) when she bought surveillance cameras at a private-detective agency in Hsinchu.

Kuo, Chu's former "spiritual growth" instructor from a religious-healing center called Avatar (阿梵達), has admitted installing the equipment used to film Chu but said she did so on the orders of another person, whom she has refused to name.

Kuo and other witnesses have told prosecutors that she went to the agency with Tsai.

Tsai said that too many people had been hurt by rumors surrounding the case and called for an end to the gossip.

"Most of the rumors about me in the newspapers are untrue," Tsai said. "I have stayed clear of the press because the case is under investigation. ... I feel so sorry for Chu because, after all, she used to be the woman I loved very much. I don't want to see her get hurt.

"At this moment, I can tell you that I have told prosecutors everything I know about the case. I believe that they will do their best to solve the case and I would like to do whatever it takes to help Chu as a friend."

"So far, all the evidence and witnesses' testimonies are damning for Kuo but she chooses to remain silent. Of course she has the right to do so," Chen said.

"But sometimes, it's also a good thing to defend yourself if the charges against you are not true. We respect her decision, however, and will of course continue to act in accordance with the law."
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