KMT digs up more evidence against Hsieh

The KMT legislative caucus yesterday produced more evidence to back up its allegations that Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) accepted a NT$4.5 million check from a businesswoman during his stint as a lawmaker.

Hsieh's camp, denying any wrongdoing, said it considered asking the court to keep back the evidence to halt a perceived KMT dirty campaign tactics.

KMT legislative whip Lee Chuan-chia (李全教) unveiled a copy of Zanadau majority shareholder Su Hui-chen's (蘇惠珍) bank statement that showed she wired NT$4.5 million to a Taipei Bank account on Nov. 25, 1994.

"The account numbered 501210-024246 belonged to the bank's branch office in the legislature," Lee said. "Hsieh should tell the public whether he owns the account or not."

Over the weekend, the legislator displayed a copy of a check with Su's chop on it that marked Hsieh as the payee.

Lee urged the anti-money laundering agency to launch a probe into the matter, saying the transaction reeked of illicit political trade-offs.

"That explains why Hsieh has been unable to shed light on what the money was for," he said.

Lee later directed his lawyer to file libel suits against Hsieh and Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Lin Yung-chien (林永堅), both of whom filed the same charge against Lee days earlier.

Hsieh dismissed Lee's charge as unfounded. His camp later said it needed time to track down the source of the check.

"It will take seven or eight days before we can give a clear account of the controversy as the credit cooperative from which the disputed check was issued has since merged with another," Hsieh's spokesman Phoenix Cheng (鄭運鵬) said.

With the elections only four days away, Cheng said his camp is looking at the possibility of having Lee's evidence confiscated.