Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday presented banking statements to prove that there were financial exchanges between himself and DPP heavyweight Yu Chen Yueh-ying (余陳月瑛) in 1994, but that these transactions had nothing to do with the scandal-ridden Zanadau project and its majority shareholder Su Hui-chen (蘇惠珍).
Hsieh, who is fighting a campaign for re-election which culminates in voting tomorrow, said that KMT legislative whip Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) had successfully achieved his aim of disrupting the DPP's election preparations by launching groundless accusations.
Hsieh's campaign had to be suspended for a half day yesterday because he had to come to a bank in Taipei to find the necessary account records.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
The problem at issue hinged on a check made public by Lee a few days ago.
The KMT lawmaker displayed 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.
The check was reportedly given to Hsieh through Yu Chen.
Hsieh acknowledged there were financial transactions between Yu Chen and himself.
He said he had lent NT$5 million to Yu Chen in July 1994, but had loaned the money by writing three separate checks.
Two checks, dated July 30, 1994, were found for amounts totaling NT$3 million in Taiwan Cooperative Bank yesterday.
Hsieh claimed the bank was unable to locate the third check for NT$2 million because he could not remember the exact date of the transaction.
On Nov. 26 1994, Yu Chen returned to Hsieh NT$ 4.5 million.
"I guess that check for NT$ 4.5 million could have been issued by someone else [than Yu Chen.] But I cannot say if it is the same as the one presented by Lee. This needs to be double checked," Hsieh said.
But he questioned the veracity of the check Lee displayed to the media.
He said the photocopy did not have an official stamp from the bank, which contradicted standard banking practice.
Hsieh declined to give details on why Yu Chen who is considered wealthy by outsiders, had to borrow money from him, but only stressed that the transactions were utterly unrelated to Zanadau, Su or political donations.
DPP Legislator Yu Jan-daw (余政道), the son of Yu Chen, said he knew there had been financial exchanges between Hsieh and his mother. But he said he was unclear if his mother had returned Hsieh's money with Su's check.
The DPP candidate said that initially he did not plan to respond to Lee's allegations, but he had to present the truth after President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was dragged into the incident.
Lee yesterday continued to press Hsieh over the issue, saying there were 10 such checks, each with a value of NT$4.5 million.
Hsieh called the statement "a flat lie," urging Lee to show them to the public if there were any.
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