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Chen did not seek Wang to cut a deal, say staffers

Former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) office yesterday dismissed allegations that Chen attempted to ask Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to broker a deal with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to settle Chen’s alleged money laundering scandal.

A staffer at Chen’s office, who wished to remain anonymous, admitted that it had contacted Wang after Chen left office in May, but the two men never had the opportunity to meet because of Wang’s tight schedule.

The staffer said that the meeting was meant to be a courtesy call and that it had nothing to do with Chen’s legal difficulties.

The staffer made the remarks in response to a Taipei Times inquiry about a report published in yesterday’s edition of the Chinese-language Next Magazine.

The report claimed that Chen had tried to contact Wang after Next contacted Chen on Aug. 8 to confirm the alleged money laundering scandal. The report said that Chen was seeking negotiations with the KMT to settle the matter, but did not talk to Wang until Aug. 12. The report said that Chen had threatened to disclose “all the illegal dealings of the KMT” if Wang declined his request.

The report said Wang eventually turned down Chen’s request and refused to serve as a go-between for Chen and the KMT.

Approached by reporters outside his office at the legislature, Wang said he was in Japan between Aug. 7 and Aug. 13 and never received any calls from Chen before, during or after the trip.

“He had many other channels available if he had wanted to communicate with the [KMT] headquarters,” Wang said.

Wang added that neither Chen nor Chen’s aides had ever approached him regarding the matter.

Meanwhile, Chen’s office said yesterday that it knew nothing about the mental condition of Chen’s daughter, Chen Hsing-yu (陳幸妤).

Next also claimed that Chen Hsing-yu has been emotionally unstable because of the scandals enveloping her family.

In related news, Su Chih-cheng (蘇志誠), a top aide of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), went to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Panel yesterday to help prosecutors investigating Chen Shui-bian’s “state affairs fund” case.

Su was Lee’s secretary-general during his presidency and is familiar with Presidential Office financial matters, including the “state affairs fund.”

Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office Chief Prosecutor Ching Chi-jen (慶啟人), who returned from Switzerland last Sunday, also visited the office early yesterday morning.

“I came here to offer help,” she said.

Meanwhile, special agents Hsu Ding-jia (許定家) and Chung Kao-ming (鍾高明) from the Ministry of Justice’s Bureau of Investigation (BOI) posted an article on the bureau’s internal Web site on Monday accusing Shilin Chief Prosecutor Hsu Yung-chin (許永欽) of ignoring Chen’s potential involvement in the Taiwan Development Corp (TDC) insider trading case in 2006.

Hsu was the prosecutor in charge of the case, which concerned Chen’s son-in-law Chao Chien-ming (趙建銘). The two agents said in their article that the bureau agents discovered suspicious activity in Chen’s bank accounts but Hsu decided to ignore the information because “it would have concerned the president.”

In response, the ministry said yesterday it would look into the matter soon.

Hsu, meanwhile, said that he had nothing to hide.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG AND STAFF WRITER

Also See: No gloating over Chen scandal: Wu

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