Chen to sue over Zanadau check story

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has decided to file a libel suit against the China Times over a report suggesting that he received a NT$4.5 million political donation from Zanadau Development Corp majority shareholder Su Hui-chen (蘇惠珍) for his 1994 Taipei mayoral campaign, Presidential Office Secretary-general Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) said yesterday.

Also yesterday, President Chen's attorney, Lindy Chen (陳玲玉), sent a letter to the China Times demanding a correction. The lawyer said it is still uncertain when the lawsuit will be officially lodged.

The paper had not made any reaction toward the case as of press time last night.

Chen Shih-meng told a press conference that the accounts concerning the president that ran in the report are "totally groundless."

"[The China Times] never verified [details] with the Presidential Office or [Kaohsiung] Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) according to the normal process of news reporting and ran the report under an eye-catching headline, which was seriously misleading and distressing," Chen Shih-meng said.

Chen Shih-meng said the China Times, by publishing such a report, has become "a tool creating rumors in the election campaign" and seriously interferes in politics.

During a campaign trip to Kaohsiung yesterday, first lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) expressed her "disdain" for what she said was a paper dedicated to a culture of mud-slinging.

Wu said it was a tactic to "kill two birds with one stone" by spreading such rumors to attack both her husband and Hsieh.

The controversial report appeared in the midst of allegations made by the KMT legislative caucus over past days that Hsieh accepted an NT$4.5 million check from Su in 1994.

Hsieh was then a legislator and served as Chen Shui-bian's campaign manager.

In a front-page story published yesterday, the paper cited anonymous "reliable sources" as saying that the sum of money was intended as a donation to Chen Shui-bian's mayoral campaign.

According to the report, the check was presented to Hsieh through DPP heavyweight Yu Chen Yueh-ying (余陳月瑛). Both Hsieh and Yu Chen were members of the DPP's Central Standing Committee at that time.

After displaying a copy of a check with Su's chop on it that marked Hsieh as the payee and a copy of Su's bank statement that showed she wired NT$4.5 million to a TaipeiBank account allegedly belonging to Hsieh on Nov. 25, 1994, KMT legislative caucus leaders including Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) and Cheng Feng-shih (鄭逢時) yesterday further accused Hsieh of embezzling the political donation originally intended for Chen Shui-bian.

Hsieh yesterday dismissed the KMT allegations as a "well-plotted trap" designed to influence the mayoral campaign and thwart his re-election bid.

"If I have taken any illicit funding, I will withdraw from the race and will quit the mayoralty even after I get elected," Hsieh said at a press conference in Kaohsiung.

Hsieh said the veracity of the bank statement copy displayed by the KMT caucus is doubtful, as he does not know Su and maintains no financial connection with Su.

Hsieh admitted that he had offered Yu Chen loans totaling approximately NT$5 million, and that most of the payments were made by check.

Hsieh, however, said he was not sure if Yu Chen had ever returned him a lump-sum payment for NT$4.5 million.

Hsieh said he reserves the right to take legal action against the KMT legislators.