A close aide of former minister of foreign affairs James Huang (黃志芳) was questioned by prosecutors yesterday as a witness in a dollar-diplomacy case in which Taiwan was defrauded of US$30 million.
Chang Chiang-sheng (張強生), a counselor at the minister’s office, declined to comment as he left the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday afternoon, except to say that he “did not take any money.”
Prosecutors said Huang ordered Chang in September 2006 to wire US$30 million to a joint account in Singapore held by Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖) and Wu Shih-tsai (吳思材), two of the brokers alleged to have been involved in the deal.
But that December, after the government discovered that Papua New Guinea was not sincere in wanting to establish ties, the government decided to abandon the deal.
Huang sent Chang to Singapore to discuss the return of the money with Ching and Wu.
Prosecutors said that Chang and Ching, who were in Taiwan at the time, went to Singapore together on Dec. 22, where they met Wu.
Chang discussed the return of the money with the two men, but Ching left Singapore the day after the meeting with Wu, prosecutors said.
Chang failed to get the pair to transfer the money back to Taipei, prosecutors said.
Ching agreed to meet with the Taiwanese official in Singapore in December 2006 to withdraw the money from the bank account, a Singaporean newspaper reported yesterday, citing testimony by Taiwan’s representative to Singapore at the city-state’s High Court.
On the day of the meeting, however, Ching said he was flying to Shanghai to visit his sick daughter, and Taiwan has since lost contact with him, the newspaper said.
The paper said that Ching had made off with the funds.
Wu was ordered detained by the Taipei District Court on Tuesday because he was considered a key figure in the case.
Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) on Tuesday approved the resignations of Huang and vice premier Chiou I-jen (邱義仁). Deputy minister of national defense Ko Cheng-heng (柯承亨) also resigned on Tuesday for introducing Ching to Chiou.
Wu ‘s attorney, Hsu Ching-hsing (徐景星), told a press conference yesterday afternoon that Wu had told him that Chang and Ching had asked Wu to transfer US$9.8 million from Ching and Wu’s joint account to Wu’s personal account and then give the amount to Chang.
At the time, Chang said the money was for Huang, Hsu quoted Wu as saying.
After that, Ching and Chang asked Wu to wire the remaining US$20 million back to the bank account in Taiwan where the amount originated, Hsu quoted Wu as saying, adding that Chin had mentioned at the time that the US$20 million was for Ko and Chiou.
The ministry last night issued a statement saying that Wu’s comments contained many contradictions.
Chiou denied yesterday that he has been in touch with Ching.
The Apple Daily yesterday said that text messages found in Ko’s cellphone showed that Ko and Ching kept in touch via text messages in February and March.
It also quoted unnamed prosecutors as saying that Ching told Ko in one of the messages that he, under orders of his “boss,” had given the “thing” to Wu.
The report said prosecutors assumed that the “thing” referred to a kickback and the “boss” referred to Chiou. Based on this prosecutors presumed that Chiou was the mastermind of the diplomatic fraud and he decided who received how much kickback.
“The Apple Daily report was entirely untrue,” Chiou said.
Chiou said Ko did receive text messages from Ching in the later half of March, but “Ching didn’t mention anything about Wu Shi-tsai, money or a boss.”
“I received a text message from overseas, which I didn’t quite understand and seemed to me that [he] was just sending [his] regards,” Chiou said. “I guessed it was from Ching, hence I asked Ko to send text message to Ching to verify if [the sender] was Ching.”
“Ko received a text message from Ching afterwards and told me about the content, in which Ching said he missed Taiwan and friends and complained he was in exile overseas even though he had done a good job in trying to establish diplomatic relations,” Chiou said.
Chiou said he asked Ko to try to reach Ching because they wanted Ching to meet with them and return money.
“That communication between Ko and Ching just lasted a very short period, and after that, Ching disappeared without a trace again,” Chiou said.
Chiou had said he would take full responsibility for the case as he introduced Ching to Huang, but he didn’t know all the details of how Huang handled the negotiations with the two brokers.
Chiou and Huang were taken off the list of the people scheduled to receive medals from the president. Deputy Director of the Presidential Office’s Public Affairs Department Chang Kong-han (張�? confirmed President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had planned to bestow medals on Chiou and Huang but had changed his mind after the scandal broke.
Chang Kong-han said a media report about the medal plan had been “unfair” and “far from the truth.” He said it is a tradition for a president to honor government officials or civilians deemed to have made great contribution to the country before the president leaves office.
Chang Kong-han made the remarks in response to a report published in the latest issue of Next Magazine yesterday that described Chen’s plan to honor Chiou and Huang as “absurd” and “inert.”
Chen did confer medals on several officials yesterday, including Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Premier Chang, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), Presidential Office Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山), Judicial Yuan President Lai Ying-jaw (賴英照), former senior presidential adviser Wu Li-pei (吳澧培) and former national policy adviser Wu Shuh-min (吳樹民).
Lu said the timing of the ceremony was questionable and she urged all government officials to reflect on their behavior.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) criticized the plan to give medals to Chiou and Huang.
“It is incomprehensible why [the Presidential Office] would even think about awarding medals [to them] after [they] sabotaged our national dignity and face,” she said.
Meanwhile, KMT Legislator Chen Chieh (陳杰) said the property of Huang, Chiou and Ko should be confiscated. He made the call at a legislative committee meeting in which officials were invited to report on the uses of the government’s confidential budget.
In response, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister Javier Hou (侯清山) said the ministry’s legal officials had yet to discuss the matter.
“This would have to wait until they are convicted,” Hou said.
Executive Yuan Spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said Huang, Chiou and Ko will receive retirement allowances according to the law.
“If they are indicted or found guilty, they might have to return their retirement allowance,” Shieh said in response comments by Taipei County Councilor King Chieh-shou (金介壽), who said the Executive Yuan should not give the trio retirement allowances.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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