The uproar over the Zanadau scandal raged on yesterday when a KMT legislator accused DPP officials of taking bribes from the Kaohsiung-based land development company in exchange for political favors.
KMT legislative whip Lee Chuan-chia (
"Su turned to DPP officials for help after she failed to secure loans through China Development Bank," said Lee, who recently went to Kaohsiung on a fact-finding trip with a group of lawyers.
He said many DPP supporters filed complaints with the KMT caucus alleging they are victims of a corporate fraud involving the Zanadau project, an 11-hectare shopping mall in Kaohsiung County.
On Sept 16, Su told reporters she gave over NT$1 billion in kickbacks to former KMT business affairs manager Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) and his agent Lee Ming-che (李明哲).
The businesswoman insisted that the pair promised to help her broker NT$11 billion in bank loans, but failed to do so despite having taken 10 percent of the sum in "commission."
Both Liu and Lee Ming-che have denied the allegations and linked Su's present financial predicament to her poor credit record.
Su, who has funded many DPP candidates in election campaigns, then sought recourse with DPP officials, Lee Chuan-chia said.
He refused to supply information about the eight DPP officials but said he suspected irregular deals between Su and former Kaohsiung County commissioners Yu-chen Yueh-ying (
He called the land for the Zanadau project "a cheap piece of farmland" whose value could have exceeded NT$300 million.
* KMT legislative whip Lee Chuan-chia says DPP officials accepted millions of NT dollars in bribes from Zanadau's main shareholder, Su Hui-chen.
* On Sept. 16, Su said she gave more than NT$1 billion in kickbacks to a former KMT business affairs manager and his associate.
* Su says the pair broke their promise to help her broker NT$11 billion in bank loans.
"In 1994 Su sold the real estate for NT$3.3 billion to a department store which transferred the ownership of the land to Zanadau at a cost of NT$3.9 billion two years later," the KMT lawmaker said.
Su is like a daughter to Yu-chen, now a senior presidential adviser, whose son Yu Cheng-hsien ran Kaohsiung County when the two transactions took place, Lee said.
"That web of personnel connections probably accounted for the prompt conversion of the land to a commercial zone," he said, noting that Yu-chen briefly served as Zanadau president.
The legislator urged Yu Cheng-hsien, now minister of the interior, to take temporary leave to avoid conflicting interests as investigators have launched an investigation into the case.
Later in the day, Su dismissed Lee's statements. She said that to make Liu and Lee Ming-che return the commission, she has sought help from politicians of all stripes.
"I retain close ties with all political parties," she said, pointing out that she also has close ties to Lee's own party, the KMT, saying many people used to refer to her as the older sister of KMT Legislator Lin Yi-shih (
"Lee Chuan-chia should have done more homework before leveling his charges," Su said.
Su has also alleged that law-makers from across party lines all took or borrowed money from her on different occasions.
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