The Control Yuan released a report in July last year impeaching former Vice Chief of the General Staff Yeh, former Vice Admiral Lei Hsueh-ming (
But, controversially, the Control Yuan did not impeach Hau. It did not, moreover, absolve Yeh, Lei and Yao yesterday.
Yin was the head of the navy's arms acquisition office. His body was found floating in the sea off the east coast of Taiwan in 1993. His death prompted officials to begin investigating the frigates procurement because investigators believed Yin's death was connected with it. They believe that more than US$500 million was paid in illegal commissions.
Hau wrote in a book published last October that Yin's murder was connected to kickbacks related to a minesweeping vessel contract with Germany rather than the Lafayette frigate scandal.
Members of a special Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) team have been investigating the Lafayette frigate scandal since July 2000.
According to investigators at the bureau, on July 4, 1990, Lei told Hau's successor as chief of the general staff, Chen Shen-ling (陳燊齡), that the average price for each of the six Lafayette frigates was about NT$10.9 billion.
The next day, however, Lei reported to Hau that the average price was NT$12.3 billion.
That same day, the navy listed in its budget plan for the purchase a price of NT$14.386 billion for each warship.
MJIB investigators suspect that Yeh, then navy commander-in-chief, was responsible for inflating the prices.
In response to the Control Yuan's findings, Hau yesterday said that he had "nothing to hide."
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