Ma said the president's statements only made him seem more untrustworthy.
If the government doesn't make up its mind to investigate the case, the whole of Taiwan "will not trust the government," said Ma, adding the recent development of the whole scandal has caused some damage to national security.
"I think it is time to activate the national security mechanism to investigate the scandal," he said.
Mud-slinging
While Ma criticized the president, the pan-green camp threw his words back at him and lambasted Ma for not knowing the whereabouts of his former staff member, Ho Hung-jung (何鴻榮), the former chief of the Taipei City Bureau of Civil Affairs.
Ho was one of Ma's closest associates and resigned in September after allegedly having an affair with his secretary and going on a secret trip to Bali.
In other developments, Kaohsiung prosecutors yesterday said Chen Che-nan was treated to three foreign trips by a laborer brokerage firm and that the prosecutors are now close to discovering whether Chen also took bribes from the company.
"The brokerage firm Huapan Co (
Chen, who was charged with corruption, was released on NT$500,000 (US$15,000) bail on Friday evening.
Trips
Prosecutors said that in November 2002, when Chen Che-nan went to South Korea's Cheju Island with former KRTC vice chairman Chen Min-hsien (陳敏賢), former speaker of the Taiwan Provincial Assembly Liu Ping-wei (劉炳偉), general manager of Huapan Co Yen Shih-hua (嚴世華) and his wife Wang Tsai-pi (王彩碧), one of the Huapan's subsidiary company, Everpro Manpower Co (EMC) (華永毅公司), paid for his trip.
Prosecutors also said that in July 2002 and in November last year, both Chens and Liu went to Thailand twice, with EMC paying for Chen Che-nan's trip.
Kaohsiung prosecutors also summoned Liu for questioning on Friday, but he did not respond. Prosecutors said they would issue a warrant for Liu's arrest if he fails to report to prosecutors.
Additional reporting by Rich Chang
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