Huang denies knowledge of committees

Deputy Director of the National Security Bureau (NSB, 國安局), Huang Lai (黃磊) yesterday denied any knowledge of three secret NSB committees, code-named "Annan" (安南), "Taiping" (太平) and "Minghsin" (明心), which were recently mentioned in reports by Hong Kong's Sing Tao newspaper (星島日報).

During a Judicial Committee (司法委員會) meeting at the legislature yesterday, KMT lawmaker Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) asked Huang for more information about the three secret committees and how their funds had been spent.

"I have been working for the NSB for 25 years and I can assure you that I have never heard of them," Huang said.

He also said that not everybody at the bureau has knowledge of or the authorization to view classified information, especially when such information concerns national security.

In addition, he said that there are too many secret committees and funds at the bureau. As a result, he said he would have to double-check and then come back to answer questions about the secret committees.

"However, it would have to be a private meeting with lawmakers only," he added.

PFP legislator Chou Hsi-wei (周錫偉) said that Huang's answer at the meeting was credible.

"I believe that he doesn't know at this moment," Chou said.

"An official from the Ministry of National Defense (國防部) once told me that the NSB can establish a secret committee with a secret fund anytime it sees fit. In other words, there could be thousands of them which have yet to be fully explored."

Sing Tao reported in yesterday's edition that other than the "Fengtien" (奉天) and "Dangyang" (當陽) committees, the NSB also had three other secret committees which routinely utilized "huge amounts of money."

According to Next magazine's (壹週刊) edition No. 48, the "Fengtien" and "Dangyang" committees were two secret committees which oversaw a fund of about NT$3.5 billion. The fund was deposited at the Farmer's Bank of China (農民銀行). The two committees were said to have been set up to handle secret diplomatic efforts and conduct diplomatic research.

According to Sing Tao's story, the NSB also established the "Annan"committee for national intelligence and the "Taiping"committee for the military special forces. The report failed to explain what the "Minghsin" committee was for.

The story also said that "Annan" oversaw a fund of NT$17.5 million, "Taiping" of US$259,750 and "Minghsin" NT$1,295,750. The reporter surmised that "Taiping" operated abroad since it controlled an account calculated in US dollars.

The story also lacked an explanation of when these committees were established and where their funds were deposited.