Prosecutors a threat
Each and every Taiwanese who is concerned about the malicious malfeasance of Taiwan’s special prosecutors, who have played the role of pawns, as well as tools for political revenge and persecution by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of its opposition, should be concerned by the case of former presidential adviser Wu Li-pei (吳澧培).
The situation is a grave crisis and a dangerous threat to the judicial system and democratic process. I urge Taiwan’s legal professionals to step up and lead a movement to rectify the situation, and in the process make the public aware of the serious judicial and other malfunctions of the government.
At the risk of being considered nepotic, I wish to say two things to authenticate the absolute integrity of Wu, who is my brother-in-law. In my whole career running small businesses, he was my equal partner. Time and time again he cautioned me against committing any deed that could convey an appearance of impropriety. Case in point: When we could have easily sold our last business and saved ourselves a lot of trouble by accepting a South Korean buyer’s offer to pay a big chunk of the price in what could only have been laundered cash, falsify the official selling price to a lower amount (which in turn would have lowered our capital gains tax), he said that it was against his principles and we could be criminally implicated, and promptly rejected the offer.
Also, with his wealth of experience running fairly sized banks, he never intruded into my businesses unless I asked for his advice and in such cases his business acumen was invariably stunning.
He is a man with a very high intelligence — legal or otherwise, with outstanding leadership qualities, exceptional competence and impeccable morality, so I know for sure he would not have done anything carrying the slightest hint of illegality or illegitimacy.
Yet, he was abused and tormented for so long for no reason or with no cause whatsoever. I am just glad that he has been blessed with extreme mental toughness and was able to carry himself through an ordeal that others would have succumbed to a long time ago.
Now his reputation has been tarnished even after his exoneration, but all he is asking is that all those special prosecutors responsible for injustices to himself and others be exposed and held accountable, in the hope that others do not have to suffer the same tragedy in the future.
Paul Ding
Redondo Beach, California
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