Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) yesterday withdrew from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to apologize for the disgrace he has brought to the party by mismanaging campaign funds.
“Today I have to say sorry to all of the DPP members and supporters. I let everyone down, caused you humiliation and failed to meet your expectations. My acts have caused irreparable damage to the party,” Chen said in a written statement issued yesterday afternoon.
“I love the DPP deeply and am proud of being a DPP member. To express my deepest regrets to all DPP members and supporters, I announce my withdrawal from the DPP immediately. My wife Wu Shu-jen is also withdrawing from the party,” he said.
He reiterated that he had not pocketed any of the funds.
“I am not greedy for money. I made a serious mistake. I don’t expect the public to forgive me, but I will take responsibility for what I did. Although I am no longer a DPP member, I am willing to accept an investigation by the party’s integrity committee,” the statement said.
Chen urged his supporters not to abandon the DPP’s long-term efforts to defend national sovereignty because of his personal mistakes.
The former president called on the public to continue supporting the DPP.
The statement was issued one day after Chen called a news conference in which he admitted that Wu had wired overseas an unspecified amount of money that Chen had received for his two Taipei mayoral and two presidential election campaigns between 1993 and 2004.
In a televised news conference on Thursday, Chen apologized to the public for not clearly accounting for his campaign contributions, admitting that failing to report the funds was “something that is not permitted by the law.”
Under campaign laws, candidates are required to report all campaign spending, but they were not required to report all political donations until the passage of the Political Contributions Act in 2004.
The former president said he was unaware that his wife had wired the surplus funds from his campaigns abroad until early this year.
Prior to Chen’s press conference on Thursday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) earlier the same day said Swiss prosecutors had asked Taiwanese authorities to verify the origin of funds in Swiss bank accounts under the name of Chen’s daughter-in-law, Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚).
The Ministry of Justice later confirmed that it had received the request through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
Chen rejected Hung’s allegation that the funds wired overseas could be connected to his “state affairs fund” or a recent scandal involving a botched attempt to win diplomatic recognition from Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The Chinese-language Next Magazine reported on Wednesday that the Egmont Group, an international anti-money laundering network, had alerted the Taiwanese government that the former first lady had transferred large sums to several foreign bank accounts.
Next said that soon after the “state affairs fund” case erupted in 2006, Wu closed bank accounts belonging to herself and her husband as well as accounts created under the names of her son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤), which were used for stock trading.
Wu remitted NT$300 million overseas through various bank accounts belonging to her daughter-in-law and other members of her family, the magazine said.
Wu was charged with corruption and forgery in November 2006 for using receipts provided by others to claim reimbursements totaling NT$14.8 million from the president’s “state affairs fund” between July 2002 and March 2006. Chen Shui-bian, who had immunity from prosecution while in office, was named as a co-defendant in the “state affairs fund” case after completing his presidential term in May.
Chen Shui-bian’s office issued a separate statement yesterday morning, denying any involvement in money laundering and reiterating that the money remitted was from campaign funds and not related to the PNG scandal.
“The money was not all wired in January 2007. The money was there before 2007 and so it had nothing to do with the PNG scandal,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, following a provisional meeting yesterday afternoon, DPP Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) bowed twice to apologize to the public on behalf of the party for the “impact and instability” that the Chen case had caused.
“In regard to Chen and his wife’s decision to withdraw from the party and his desire to shoulder responsibility for his actions as well as to undergo an investigation by the party’s anti-corruption committee, we respect his decision and accept it,” Tsai said.
Even though Chen Shui-bian is no longer a party member, the committee will probe the matter and hopefully keep its impact to a minimum, she said.
Some impact is, however, “inevitable,” Tsai said, adding that the party would face it bravely and responsibly.
“We will give the public a DPP that is renewed and worthy of expectations,” she said.
“Anti-corruption and local values are the DPP’s only assets ... we are willing to start over and face these difficulties and continue to be an opposition to the KMT government and protect Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy,” she said.
“In the investigation of Chen’s case, we will not be biased or cover [anything] up; the DPP will support the courts and we stress that Chen has the right and must offer the public a clearer explanation,” she said.
Meanwhile, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday dismissed Chen Shui-bian’s accusation that he had used others’ names to transfer about US$1 billion abroad and that it was well known that former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) has investments and property overseas.
Lee said in a written statement that Chen Shui-bian had accused him of using two personal guards to make transfers in 2002. The allegation was groundless, Lee said.
Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) urged Chen Shui-bian not to make accusations and said he and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had followed legal procedures in handling their campaign funds.
“It’s crucial for the judiciary to find out where the money was from and how it was used,” Ma said while in Paraguay for a state visit. “The truth should be determined by the judiciary rather than by the persons involved.”
Asked about Chen’s accusation that Ma failed to report campaign funds in full, the president said: “I always report all my campaign funds in full.”
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan and CNA
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