KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (
At a press conference yesterday, Yang presented a pile of documents which, he claimed, disproved Soong's story that he had returned several months ago a sum of NT$106 million that had been deposited into his son Soong Chen-yuan's (宋鎮遠) Chung Hsing Bills Finance Corporation account.
"Last week Soong claimed that he had returned the money to the unidentified `elder' on June 10," Yang said. "But according to my own information, after June 17 there were still transactions listed in this account.''
Yang also said that even when the account was finally liquidated on Oct. 4, the resulting cash was paid into a deposit account in Soong Chen-yuan's name at a branch of the First Commercial Bank.
"Are there any other mystery accounts?" Yang asked.
Immediately after the press conference finished, Yang went to the Ministry of Finance to provide evidence that Soong Chen-yuan had evaded paying gift tax on the "elder's" donations. He then took the records of Soong Chen-yuan's Chung Hsing Bills Finance account to the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office.
The controversy surrounding the accounts hinges on how in 1991-93, Soong Chen-yuan, at the time only 24 years old, with no independent means of support, purchased NT$120 million worth of securities, receiving NT$106 million in one day in December 1992 when his father was still serving as KMT secretary-general.
James Soong's spokesman, Yen Rong-chang (顏榮昌), denied that the Soong camp had ever claimed the account was liquidated in June.
"Even in our official newsletter, we only said that since Soong Chen-yuan no longer needed the money, we returned it to the `elder' several months ago. There was no mention of a specific date," Yen said.
Yen said that the whole issue still required an explanation from Soong himself.
An aide to Soong said the candidate spent all day yesterday in discussion with his inner circle to hammer out a strategy.
Soong's aides said they were preparing to cancel today's scheduled signature drive in Penghu County to organize a press conference aimed at providing the facts of the case.
Independent legislator Robert Hsu (
The accusations against Soong have had a dramatic impact on the presidential race, but not to the obvious advantage of KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan (
A poll conducted by the TVBS TV channel, conducted on Sunday, showed that DPP presidential hopeful Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had taken the lead from Soong.
But DPP legislator Chou Po-lun (
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