Media personality Clara Chou (周玉蔻) yesterday gave her testimony and made more allegations as she went to the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office to provide evidence to back her accusation that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had received a large sum of money as a political donation from the food-scandal-tainted Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團).
Accompanied by her lawyer, Chou brought files and documents to the session with the SID yesterday morning, which she said were evidence to present to Prosecutor Lin Cheng-tsung (林承宗), who is leading the investigation.
Chou told reporters that she has confidence in her evidence.
“All my statements are backed up by sources and secret witnesses,” she said.
While being interviewed by the media at her SID appearance, the radio host ignited more controversy by accusing Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) of leaking classified government material to Ting Hsin.
“When Ting Hsin was embroiled in the food scandal earlier this year, Wu applied to the Ministry of Health and Welfare for access to internal confidential reports. Later on, Wu leaked these classified government information and reports to Ting Hsin,” Chou said.
The veteran media personality went on the offensive against Ma and KMT officials.
“The Ma administration, including Ma himself, the KMT caucus at the legislature and KMT legislators were obvious in their group effort to protect Ting Hsin and shield the company from prosecution,” she said.
After her session with the SID, Chou told reporters that she had offered to name her “secret witnesses” so that the SID could investigate the four major alleged cases of bribery and influence-peddling involving Ma, his officials and Ting Hsin.
“I have the sources, the witnesses and details of where they got the information. When they decide to investigate these cases, I will cooperate fully with SID prosecutors and reveal the names and all the evidence,” she said.
Chou has caused political turmoil in the past week by going public with allegations that Ma received NT$200 million (US$6.3 million) in an off-the-books political donation from Ting Hsin, citing witnesses and sources among former officials in the National Security Council.
Her accusations have severely tarnished Ma’s image, which prompted him on Thursday to vow to file a lawsuit, in an individual capacity, against Chou.
The case is in the evidence-gathering stage and there is no clear defendant as yet, SID Director Kuo Wen-tung (郭文東) said.
The SID is looking at Chou’s statements and her evidence to determine whether the case falls under the division’s jurisdiction, Kuo said, adding that if not, it would be transferred to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office.
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