A lawyer representing the KMT in the Chung Hsing Bills Finance (
The prosecutors, however, said that the move, by lawyer Chuang Po-lin (
The KMT denied that they had authorized Chuang to apply for the reconsideration.
"I have no knowledge about Chuang's action. I think it's his personal opinion," KMT Secretary-General Lin Feng-cheng (林豐正) told the media yesterday morning.
Party spokesman Jason Hu (
"There are currently various opinions in the party," Hu said.
Chuang, however, said in a statement that he would suggest that his client later submit a written authorization.
"Indeed, the complainant in the case was the KMT, which has not yet made its decision," Chuang said.
"But this case is not private business between the KMT and James Soong only, and shall not be settled privately.
"It is a matter of whether Taiwan's politics are improving or deteriorating and of the major rights and wrongs in social values."
He said the ruling was absurd.
On Feb. 16 last year, during the run-up to the presidential election, the KMT sued Soong, the party's former secretary general, for allegedly embezzling party funds totaling around NT$360 million and forging the seals of the party to open bank accounts in the party's name without its authorization.
What is different now is that Soong has turned from being a rival presidential candidate to a major ally of the KMT in the current opposition coalition against the DPP government.
According to the Code of Criminal Procedure, the complainant may apply for reconsideration of the prosecution's ruling not to indict within seven days after receiving the decision.
The KMT received the decision last Thursday and therefore the deadline for its application is this Thursday, the prosecution said.
Meanwhile, the prosecution reiterated that the whole case had been carried out in accordance with due process of law.
Chuang accused the prosecutors of being biased in favor of Soong.
He said that during investigation of the case they demanded that the KMT's lawyers rewrite the private prosecution petition -- a demand he considered highly improper.
But the officiating prosecutor Hung Tai-wen (
There were five lawyers in the KMT's legal team.
The convener of the legal team, Chang Nai-liang (
The other four lawyers, however, were not present with Chuang yesterday and were not named in the application for a reconsideration, either.
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