The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office appears set to begin summoning officials from the finance ministry today for questioning over allegations of financial impropriety against independent presidential candidate James Soong (
The prosecutors' office is also likely to summon Soong himself, as well as his financial advisor, Chen Pi-yun (
KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (
Yang has filed charges of tax evasion against Soong.
The case against Soong involves funds totalling more than NT$1 billion that were deposited in accounts belonging to his relatives, including his son, sister-in-law and her son, which Soong has since claimed were intended to be used to care for relatives of the late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) as well as "party business."
Officials at the prosecutors' office said they had decided to begin the interrogatory sessions rather than waiting for further documents from the finance ministry.
The prosecutors' office will ask the ministry to supply additional information to clarify some points in its report.
The finance ministry has submitted a report on the Soong scandal to the prosecutors' office, but it does not include certain key evidence, including information on the seal Soong used for the "KMT secretary-general's account" he opened privately in the early 1990s.
At KMT headquarters, meanwhile, officials continued to attack Soong yesterday, saying he still has not clarified the origin and final destination of funds in the KMT secretary-general's account. The officials also asked him to disclose exactly how much money he actually remitted to the US between October and November, 1998, during the timethe provincial government was downsized.
Meanwhile, reports continues to emerge about so-called "donors" to party political funds.
The Chinese-language press reported yesterday that in December 1992, in the run up to the legislative elections, Soong received a check for NT$30 million without a designated payee from the local construction tycoon Liang Po-hsun (
Soong immediately put the donation into his KMT secretary-general's account, the report said.
The money was withdrawn from that account in early 1993 and used to buy securities at the Chunghsing Bills Finance Corp, the report said.
As the amount of Liang's donation was ten times the legal ceiling for corporate donations to political parties, investigative authorities are probing possible tax evasion and misappropriation by Soong, the report said.
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