Vice President Annette Lu (
Lu yesterday became the nation's first incumbent vice president to be a defendant at a hearing.
"Prosecutors unfairly chose me as an investigation target and then indicted me. The prosecutorial system should have thoroughly probed the nation's more than 6,500 government officials in their use of their discretionary funds before deciding whether or not to indict me and other officials," Lu said, while making a short statement at the Taipei District Court before she entered the courtroom.
PHOTO: CNA
Lu said that former premier Su Tseng-chang (
"We must not allow the faults from an incomplete system of the old era to bring new disasters," she said.
Asked by judges how she would plead, Lu said: "I am not guilty of these charges."
Lu told the judges she did not know the details of the process involved in the reimbursement of special allowance funds, never received the funds illegally or directed her subordinates to use fraudulent receipts to claim her special allowance fund.
She said the charitable donations she had made during her term of office as vice president exceeded the special allowance funds she had received.
The Supreme Prosecutors Office in September indicted Lu, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and National Security Council Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山) on suspicion of misusing their special allowance funds.
Lu, Yu and Chen were charged with corruption and forgery.
Prosecutors alleged that between December 2000 and May last year Lu used a total of 1,005 fraudulent receipts to claim reimbursements from her special allowance fund.
Prosecutors added that the receipts, collected by Lu's office staff and security guards, amounted to NT$5.6 million (US$170,000).
Earlier this year, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
A district court accepted his argument that by law the fund was an official subsidy, and acquitted him in August.
However, prosecutors have filed an appeal to a higher court to challenge the acquittal.
DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) was investigated for misuse of discretionary funds during his tenure as mayor of Kaohsiung. No charges were made against him.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a