Sun, Jan 21, 2001 page1

• Prosecutors not to pursue Soong

  • By Jou Ying-cheng / STAFF REPORTER
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  The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office yesterday announced it would not prosecute PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) for allegedly embezzling funds from his former party, the KMT.

  The high-profile Chung Hsing Bills Finance case (興票案), generally believed to have led to Soong's defeat in the 2000 presidential election, involved a complicated series of financial scandal allegations that came at the height of last year's campaign.

  It was alleged that Soong had embezzled two separate sums. The prosecution said that one sum, totalling around NT$360 million, was the KMT's property. The other was a surplus of donations and KMT subsidies for Soong in his 1994 Taiwan provincial governor campaign, which amounted to some NT$582.3 million.

  The prosecution said its investigation confirmed Soong's claim that NT$360 million of the KMT funds deposited in accounts opened by Soong were for the party's use, namely taking care of late president and KMT chairman Chiang Ching-kuo's (蔣經國) family and carrying out the party's political tasks.

  "Therefore, despite the fact that the KMT money was deposited in accounts other than those of the KMT under Soong's instruction ? it cannot be said that Soong had intent to embezzle the money ? nor had Soong's use of the money harmed the KMT's interests," officiating prosecutor Hung Tai-wen (洪泰文) said.

  The PFP welcomed the ruling. A spokesman said yesterday on behalf of Soong, who is currently abroad, that Soong was "grateful to the prosecution for its investigation efforts and to his supporters for their persistent support."

  "This has proven that Soong did not steal a cent," the spokesman Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) said.

  Soong's wife, Chen Wan-shui (陳萬水), son Allen (宋鎮遠), sister-in-law Chen Pi-yun (陳碧雲), and assistant Yang Yun-tai (楊雲黛) were all accused, along with Soong, of embezzlement, fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and tax evasion by KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) and DPP legislator Chen Zau-nan (陳昭南). The prosecution ruled none of the accused were to be prosecuted.

  Regarding the embezzlement allegations, the prosecution said that according to its interviews of several KMT politicians and Chiang family members, Soong did use the KMT money to fund the party's candidates in the 1992 legislative election and 1994 provincial councilor election, as well as to subsidize Chiang's family.

  In the forgery allegation, the KMT claimed that Soong forged seals of the party and opened bank accounts in the party's name without permission. However, the prosecution said Soong's behavior did not constitute forgery.

  "The elements of the offence of forging private documents include that a person who has no rights to produce the documents ... and that the contents of the documents are false," according to the decision.

  The prosecution said that, as secretary-general of the KMT, Soong had the right to produce the documents and so it could not be construed as forgery.

  The prosecution said that because Soong was acting in the belief that he was carrying out tasks asked of him by the party chairman, "it is obvious that he had no criminal intent to forge documents."

  With regard to the fraud and breach of trust accusations, in which Soong's opponents claimed he misappropriated a surplus of the funds he raised from the public for his provincial gubernatorial campaign, the prosecution also said Soong's behavior did not constitute an offence.

  "Soong raised that money in the name of his campaign and he ran and won the election, so it is not fraud," prosecutors said.

  "Donations are a gift. The purpose of the campaign donation was for the candidate's election, not for any commission after the election. Therefore it is not about breach of trust," prosecutors said.
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