Newsmakers 2: Task force head reveals the navy's darkest secrets

When a Control Yuan task force last week released evidence about the commissions paid in the French frigates purchase scandal, and asked the navy to sue in Paris to recover the kickbacks, Kang Ning-hsiang (康寧祥) was at its helm.

Kang is the task force's convener. While it remains to be seen if the move facilitates the prosecution's investigation into the recipients of the kickbacks, Kang's performance was praised by his colleagues.

"He is very earnest and careful in carrying out his work," said Louis Chao (趙榮耀), a task force member.

When the five-member task force was set up last year, Chao said the members elected Kang as convener because he was experienced and knowledgeable about defense and arms procurement affairs.

Kang, 63, is chairman of the Control Yuan's National Defense Committee. A five-term legislator and two-term Control Yuan member, Kang has devoted himself to defense matters. When the DPP took office last year he was considered a hopeful for one of the positions of vice-minister of defense though he was not ultimately appointed.

"He is very organized. [In the investigation of the frigate case] he defined tasks involved at the different stages and coordinated members of the team in carrying out those tasks," Chao said.

Last October the task force aroused controversy by proposing to impeach former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) over the frigate purchase scandal.

Kang and other members of the task force at the time said that in 1989, Hau, then chief of the general staff, suddenly, after visiting France, changed the navy's original plan to buy South Korean frigates to one to buy the French Lafayette frigates. The task force said such a move was a serious violation of the normal decision-making process involved in arms purchases and that Hau must take responsibility.

As the names on the impeachment proposal were leaked to the media, the task force came under fierce criticism. Some members of the media and politicians said that, by impeaching Hau, the Control Yuan would have been usurping the discretion of the General Staff and the Executive Yuan.

Opponents of the Control Yuan's move said that whether to buy particular weapons was a matter of defense policy the rights and wrongs of which should not be judged by the Control Yuan. Some even questioned whether the action against Hau was politically motivated. Hau said that before the policy change, he had reported to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). However, Lee denied Hau's account.

Many argued that the Kang-led task force ignored the issue of who received kickbacks in the Lafayette scandal and instead focused on the decision-making process.

The proposal to impeach Hau did not pass the Control Yuan committee review, though three high-ranking former navy officials were impeached.

"But he [Kang] did not look disappointed," Chao said.

The recent release of evidence showing that commissions had been paid in the case still did not indicate who the recipients of the payments were. In fact, responsibility for investigating the criminal aspects of the scandal lies with the prosecutorial special investigation force, but the Control Yuan task force members believed they pushed the prosecution to expedite matters.

Kang visited France alone last month and brought back the information concerning the flow of commissions.