The Chinese-language China Times reported that someone familiar with the case had said that Ching had called Huang after the scandal broke, asking him to take the blame in exchange for a “payoff.”
“The minister never received such a call,” Yeh said.
In related news, Shieh said yesterday that the authorities would provide Wu with 24-hour physical protection, as he had expressed concerns over his personal safety.
They will also provide protection to Huang, who has raised similar concerns, Shieh said.
Meanwhile, the KMT caucus requested yesterday that State Public Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) ask that the Special Investigation Panel take over the investigation.
At a press conference, KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) said the caucus would also demand that the premier report to the legislature on how the Cabinet intends to recover the money and save the nation’s dignity, in accordance with the Law Governing the Legislature’s Power (立法院職權行使法).
KMT Legislator Chang Hsieh-yao (張顯耀) urged prosecutors to detain Chiou if necessary.
“Chiou did has not taken any concrete action through the nation’s diplomatic, national security and judicial system in the past year, which prompted my suspicions,” Chang said.
Chang said Huang had admitted to him last week that he also had reservations about how Chiou had dealt with the case and that he had argued with Chiou on numerous occasions.
Chang urged President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to explain himself to the public immediately.
“It is the president’s authority to make major diplomatic policies. Since the president knew [about the deal], why didn’t the he explain why he turned a blind eye to Chiou’s actions?” Chang said.
Huang last night said that any claims that connect him to the so-called list are false.
“If I wanted to take the money, then why didn’t I agree to sign the communiques especially when I had two chances to do so?” he said, adding that he trusted the integrity of his colleague, Donald Lee.
He said if he had intended to make money, it would have been “foolish” to slash the amount from US$40 million to US$30 million.
“The reason I refused to sign and insisted on bargaining the amount down was because I wanted to safeguard the national interest,” Huang said.
Huang said that no one has been able to ascertain that the list was written by Ching and given to Wu.
A close friend of Huang’s told reporters last night on condition of anonymity that MOFA had long suspected Wu’s intentions, but had to “keep him close” so they could monitor and use him to try to establish contact with Ching.
“He [Huang] could have kept the whole thing quiet and not taken legal action against Ching. After all, many similar things happened during the KMT period and the government kept it quiet. But Huang believed in protecting the national interest, so he exposed the case even though he knew it would cause a political storm,” the friend said.
The source also said the Papua New Guinea government knew that the brokers raised the price from US$20 million to US$40 million and later reduced it to US$30 million.
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