The media recently gave intensive coverage to rumors that independent presidential candidate James Soong
However, given the current status of the financial scandal in which Soong is entangled, he is more likely to receive understanding from the public if he indeed has an apartment in Hawaii.
Imagine -- a presidential candidate living in an ordinary house in Taiwan who also owns a nice apartment overseas!
Of course people will doubt his loyalty to the country, so needless to say, Soong had to refute the allegation.
Nonetheless, numerous sources have indicated that he did indeed remit hundreds of millions of NT dollars overseas.
If the money was used to purchase the nice apartment -- while this is not a good excuse it is an acceptable one. After all, many people in Taiwan aspire to the American lifestyle.
But, if the money was not spent on an apartment, then the reasons for Soong remitting the money overseas and how he spent the funds are even more suspicious.
When the media first disclosed the discovery of a large amount of mystery money in the bank account of Soong's son, the candidate's camp responded by saying that if Soong had intended to embezzle the money, he would have remitted it overseas.
This explanation implied that if Soong had remitted the money abroad, it would be more difficult to prove his innocence.
Unfortunately, for him it later turned out he had sent money overseas.
If the money was not for an apartment in Hawaii, then people might suspect Soong intended to abscond from Taiwan.
Whatever the reason, it would be hard for Soong to win the people's understanding of his actions
Soong has since provided some details about the money, saying "a portion of it was spent on his family trip."
But this explanation would mean Soong's family could spend several hundred thousand NT dollars in one day. That account was either untrue or it showed the extreme extravagance of Soong's family members.
This spendthrift image does not correspond with the austere lifestyle Soong claims he is leading.
In the meantime, Soong has declared that one of the reasons he would remit money overseas was to buy real estate. So if the money was to pay for an apartment in Hawaii, maybe people would be more willing to swallow the story.
In fact, instead of focusing on whether Soong owns an apartment in Hawaii, what we need to figure out is how the seemingly non-wealthy former governor was able to remit at least several hundred million NT dollars.
Soong should clarify why he sent so much money overseas.
Buying an apartment is not a bad reason, though it is not great either.
If Soong doesn't like this excuse, it is probably not easy for him to find a better one.
In our country, it is not against the law to remit money overseas, but it is not normal either for an individual to invest most of his property overseas.
If Soong didn't claim the NT$240 million, which he said he was about to return to the KMT, as his own, he might have already remitted most of his own money overseas.
Soong owes us a detailed explanation of his remittances abroad and his loyalty to Taiwan.
There is no way he can close such an ignominious case by making just a few casual remarks.
Chen Po-chih is professor of economics at National Taiwan University.
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