`Loyalty alliance' files suit against Soong

Members of the "anti-betrayal alliance" filed a lawsuit yesterday against PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), alleging that he disclosed classified national security information.

They claimed that evidence indicates Soong could have been behind the recent leak to the media of sensitive information on national security and defense contained in National Security Bureau (NSB) documents.

DPP Legislator Charles Chiang (江昭儀), one of the founders of the alliance, said that Soong may have broken the Criminal Code for what he called a series of well-planned acts that began in January, by which Chiang alleges Soong attempted to sell out the country.

Along with DPP legislators Wang Shu-hui (王淑慧) and Lee Chen-nan (李鎮楠), Chiang urged the Public Prosecutors' Office of the Taiwan High Court to launch an investigation into the matter.

Under Article 109 of the Criminal Code, a person who discloses or delivers a document, or any other form of secret information concerning national defense, should be sentenced to not less than one and not more than seven years in prison.

In addition, Article 111 states that a person who searches out or gathers such information should also be imprisoned.

Chiang then said that Soong spent two weeks in San Francisco following a trip to Southeast Asia in late December.

Chiang said that since Soong returned to Taiwan in early January, the PFP has held a series of press conferences, all of which exposed secret documents concerning national security and questioned the capital flowing from the NSB.

"It's apparent that since [Soong's return], the PFP has had a complete knowledge of the secretive data of the NSB, but that it has failed to hand in the questionable documents to the related departments," Chiang said.

Chiang said that the party's behavior is in violation of the Criminal Code and has put the nation's security and diplomacy at risk.

The "anti-betrayal alliance" was formed last week in a bid to pledge loyalty to the country in the wake of the disclosure of secret NSB accounts.

Media reports said that two secret NSB accounts, worth NT$3.5 billion, were set up during the administration of former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝).

The funds were used to foster Taiwan's diplomatic ties and engage in under-the-table research on international affairs, according to the reports.

Officials have acknowledged that the revelation has both severely harmed national security and threatened the country's diplomatic endeavors.

Since the exposure, DPP and TSU lawmakers have been convinced that Soong is the mastermind behind the revelations, which they believe are aimed at tarnishing Lee's reputation.