The PFP legislative caucus yesterday submitted a request to the Control Yuan to have Government Information Office (GIO) Director-General Arthur Iap (
The impeachment request was accepted by Control Yuan.
The PFP lawmakers called the lack of speedy action a political move meant to sabotage the nation's opposition leader. They said that the passive attitude of both Iap and Su had violated Soong's human rights which are safeguarded by the Constitution.
"The GIO, the administrative body directly overseeing the CNA, has committed professional negligence by failing to supervise the agency. The agency itself is alleged to have purposely distorted the report to achieve a certain political agenda ? and mar the integrity of the opposition party leader," the impeachment request read.
"[Iap and Su] should be impeached for not taking proactive action to prevent beforehand and/or mend afterward events that violate people's rights," the statement continued.
Saturday night CNA reported -- due to an inaccurate translation -- that former French foreign minister Roland Dumas had told the French newspaper Le Figaro that a US$400 million kickback for a warship purchase in 1991 was paid to "the secretary-general of Taiwan's then ruling party, the KMT" to secure the US$2.8 billion order for six Lafayette frigates.
Because Soong was secretary-general of the KMT from 1989 to 1993, several local media organizations picked up the report and identified him as the recipient of the French kickback.
PFP officials responded angrily on Sunday, pointing out to CNA that it had incorrectly translated the French story.
CNA's Sunday clarification states that the French term secretariat general du parti au pouvoir should in fact be translated as "general secretariat of the ruling party."
Although the agency took steps to correct its report and apologize, PFP spokesman Hwang Yih-jiau (
"This issue cannot be easily resolved with just a correction and a simple apology," Hwang said.
"After all, it is a big deal to have the reputation of a nation's opposition party leader damaged. We demand a formal apology," he said.
PFP Legislator Shen Chih-hwei (
Chen's threat came in response to a report that suggested he had accepted an NT$4.5 million political donation from Zanadau Development Corp majority shareholder Su Hui-chen (蘇惠珍) in 1994.
Chen decided not to file a lawsuit after the paper apologized.
Meanwhile, KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (
"The KMT did have such an office at that time," Lin said. "How-ever, no KMT accounting records show the sum of money that Dumas alleges."
The chairman of the KMT's Administrative and Management Commission, Chang Tze-chen (張哲琛), said that given the amount of money Dumas mentioned, "it would certainly have been documented if it were to have come into the KMT coffers."
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