Military finally hands over Yin documents

The military yesterday said after five days of around-the-clock effort, it had sorted and sent to civil prosecutors tens of thousands of documents concerning its investigation into the 1993 murder of navy Captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) and the associated weapons purchase scandals of the past six years.

"We have given everything we have to civil prosecutors without reservation. We do not ask for anything in return except an agreement from civil prosecutors not to make public any of the documents," said Deputy Chief of the General Staff General Wang Han-ning (王漢寧).

"We will continue to provide other relevant documents as long as the civil prosecutors-dominated task force that has re-launched an investigation into the case asks for them," Wang said.

"But we do hope members of the task force will abide by the principle of not leaking any information related to their findings from the documents," he said.

Wang made the statements at a press conference of the Ministry of National Defense, attended by many of the military's most senior figures, speaking in his capacity as deputy convener of the military's cross-service coordinating team, specially formed to assist the civilian-led task force.

Also attending the press conference were Navy Deputy Commander-in-Chief Vice Admiral Chang Chih-hua (常志驊), the MND's Judge Advocates Bureau director Rear Admiral Liu Chin-an (劉錦安), and seven other generals.

Meanwhile, Chang made a strong condemnation on behalf of the navy of an anonymous group of former navy personnel, whom he called the "black sheep of the family," for allowing the Yin murder and related scandals to happen.

"I want to articulate here our bitter hatred of those people. But for them, we would not be walking with a heavy load on our back," Chang said.

One of the "black sheep" Chang condemned was widely thought to be ex-navy Captain Kuo Li-heng (郭力恆), a key witness in the Yin case, who has been imprisoned since 1994 for bribe-taking offences related to the case.

Chang also reacted furiously to accusations by Kuo which suggested he was a member of a secret society known as the "Ching" gang and might hold information about the murder.

Kuo made the accusations during questioning by military police in 1994. Copies of transcripts of Kuo's statements to military police were published several days ago by an Internet-based Chinese news service.

"How can you trust the words of a convicted man? I have never been a member of the Ching gang. If there were any evidence to prove I am a member, I would take off my military uniform immediately," Chang said.

Judge Advocates Bureau director Rear Admiral Liu rejected media reports which suggested he had accompanied both retired generals and generals on active duty on visits to Kuo at a Taipei military prison.

"There is no record to show that Admiral Liu or any other high-ranking military officials had visited Kuo at the prison. Our records indicate Kuo's live-in girlfriend, surnamed Chang, was the one who visited Kuo the most. She has visited Kuo a total of 107 times over the past six and a half years," said Lieutenant General Lin Kuo-tung (林國棟), armed forces reserve command chief of staff.

(See Also:Navy