Soong stands up the Control Yuan

Independent presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday refused to comply to a summons from the Control Yuan, which had asked him to appear for questioning in order to clarify a number of controversial financial dealings involving money deposited in the accounts of his relatives. Soong said that instead, he would answer questions in written form if necessary.

Ma Yi-kung (馬以工), the leader of a Control Yuan task force investigating Soong's financial scandal, said yesterday that her team had scheduled for Soong to clarify answers to certain questions yesterday morning, but that he had sent her a letter saying he would not appear.

The Control Yuan is the watchdog agency charged with overseeing government officials. As former provincial governor, Soong no longer holds any official post, and it is therefore not mandatory for him to answer the summons.

"It is an opportunity for Soong to clarify his situation," Ma said. "Soong should not give up his rights."

But Soong said his sister-in-law and financial advisor Chen Pi-yun (陳碧雲) had clarified everything after she spent two hours answering the investigative task force's questions when summonsed last week.

"I respect the Control Yuan, but Chen has already made everything clear," Soong said yesterday. "Chen will go to the Control Yuan to clarify her explanations again, if necessary," he said.

A statement released by Soong's campaign office added that the independent candidate would be willing to provide answers in written form if further explanation is still necessary.

The statement said that Soong's intention was not to evade questioning.

"The results of the official investigation must be kept secret. If Soong does go the Control Yuan, people with their own agenda will inevitably create rumors [as to his reported answers] to smear him. Then his showing up will not only result in no clarification of fact, but may actually further cloud the truth," the statement said.

Allegations of Soong's financial scandal surfaced mid-December when KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) accused Soong and his family of involvement in irregular money transactions involving sums of hundreds of million of NT dollars.

The Control Yuan later established a task force to investigate Soong over possible violation of the Election and Recall Law (公職人員選罷免法) and the Public Functionary Assets Disclosure Law (公職人員財產申報法).

The task force was set up after the 21-member government watchdog body questioned Minister of Finance Paul Chiu (邱正雄) over the finding of an investigation by his ministry into the financial affairs of Soong and his family.

After Soong's election campaign for the now-defunct post of Taiwan Provincial Governor in 1994, he filed a declaration of election expenditure amounting to exactly the NT$104.98 million the Election and Recall Law allows.

Soong is also being investigated for violation of the Public Functionary Assets Disclosure Law, under which high-ranking officials and elected representatives must list their financial assets to expose possible bribe-taking.

According to documents held by the Control Yuan, Soong has declared less than NT$10 million in assets. But the Soong camp recently admitted having remitted US$1.9 million (NT$60 million) to the US as "personal travel expenses."