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
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique