The state's highest watchdog body, the Control Yuan, yesterday interviewed former director-general of the National Police Administration Ding Yuan-chin (
In a press conference afterwards, Ding said that the sources of the money which he spent in purchasing the house were all legitimate.
Ding owns a house in a high-class villa community called Vision City (
Last week two New Party Taipei City councilors claimed that Ding purchased the house at half price from the construction firm Hualon Corp (華隆集團). They also said that the price of the house was too high for someone with Ding's salary, that there was no record of Ding having taken out a loan and that his bank savings had not decreased.
There was an obvious implication that Ding was in receipt of undeclared financial assets which may have been acquired illegally.
Control Yuan members Li Shen-yi (
Ding last week released a written statement in which he stated that he was not corrupt. Yesterday at 3pm he made his first public appearance after being accused by the city councilors, taking part in a two-hour interview.
Ding said the price of the Vision City house was NT$325,000 per ping (one ping =3.3m2), not the rumored NT$200,000.
He said this was the market price in 1999, the year he bought the house.
He said the money which he used to buy the house included the profit gained from the sale of an apartment on Taipei's Hsinsheng North Road (
"And the friend is not Ong Da-ming (翁大銘)," he said. Ong is the CEO of the Hualon Corp and the person with whom Ding was rumored to have a financial connection.
The Control Yuan members said that according to their findings, the 106-ping Vision City house cost Ding NT$38.15 million.
As for why Ding's bank savings had not decreased, Ding said that he had borrowed the money from his friend in his son's name, using another apartment in Taipei's Peining Road (北寧路) as collateral.
The Peining Road apartment was also targeted by councilors, but Ding said he bought the apartment for his son in 1988, using money left by his father.
He said he was also planning to sell that apartment.
"That is to say, I am using two apartments to purchase one house," he said.
Li and Chao, meanwhile, said the Control Yuan would continue to investigate and establish the truth as soon as possible.
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