Embattled lawmaker faces another criminal charge

The appearance in court of KMT lawmaker Kuo Ting-tsai (郭廷才) yesterday on a corruption charge led to ugly scenes, as the embattled KMT lawmaker attacked reporters outside the court seeking to question him about his part in an unrelated embezzlement case, it was learned yesterday.

Kuo appeared in the Taiwan High Court's Kaohsiung branch to be tried on charges of abusing his position as a member of the Pingtung County Urban Planning Committee to facilitate the rezoning of park land for residential use between 1989 and 1992, allowing him and the owners of the land to reap huge profits.

Reporters were less interested in yesterday's case, which was in fact a retrial of a previous case ordered by the Supreme Court, than they were in the ongoing Tungkang Credit Cooperative (東港信用合作社) scandal.

Kuo, who is chairman of the cooperative in Pingtung County, has been charged with breach of trust and falsifying documents to cover up the embezzlement of NT$2.3 billion.

He and the co-op's director are suspected of defrauding depositors by instructing employees to doctor account books and falsify certificates of deposit, according to sources.

After weeks hiding from investigators, Kuo finally turned up last Thursday under the protection of legislative immunity, which started with the commencement of the current legislative session at midnight last Tuesday.

Since reporters had not had a chance to question Kuo about the Tungkang case, they crowded about him as he came out of the court.

Kuo refused to answer any questions and punched at reporters on his way out of the court. Kuo knocked down two photographers, sending their equipment scattering to the ground.

Kuo has denied any wrongdoing in the Tungkang embezzlement scandal, saying he concentrated his time and energy on legislative work and spared little time for the cooperative's business affairs.

News of the scandal in July initiated a bank run on the co-op, as depositors rushed to withdraw more than NT$400 million in two days.

Last week, the island's law enforcement officials drew fire for their tardiness in bringing Kuo to justice. On the second day of the new legislative session, Kuo showed up at the legislature, claiming he had not been hiding from investigators, but had been ill for a while.

Yesterday's case was a retrial of a case heard by the High Court in 1997, for which Kuo received a six-year prison sentence. The Supreme Court ordered a retrial of the case, since the bribery charge on which Kuo was convicted was not actually part of the indictment against him.

Yesterday's trial session focused on the questions of whether Kuo had used the rezoning project to his own financial advantage by rezoning the land.

Kuo is alleged to have made a fortune for himself and owners of the land, who had purchased half of it before the rezoning project passed.

The High Court is scheduled to deliver its decision on the rezoning corruption case on Sept. 21.