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Prosecutor blasts lawmaker's claims of Soong vendetta

A high-ranking prosecutor yesterday denied allegations by PFP Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) that DPP officials have told State Public Prosecutor-General Lu Jen-fa (盧仁發) he will be handed the post of justice minister if prosecutors can indict PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) over the Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal before the end of August.

"I am the spokesman for the prosecutors' office as well as the second-in-command here," said Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達), spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office. "When my colleagues want to do something, plan to do something or have developed something, they will report to me.

"How could it be possible that Fu knows more details about the case than I do?" he said.

"As far as I am concerned, the investigation was officially closed on Jan. 20, 2001. That has not changed," Chen said.

However, Chen added that evidence handed to police by KMT lawyer Chuang Po-lin (莊柏林) immediately after the case against Soong was closed could pave the way to the reopening of the investigation.

"Prosecutors have yet to begin looking at the new evidence," Chen said.

Fu, claiming the information he recieved came from a reliable source, said, "This is all for the benefit of the 2004 presidential election."

Initial allegations surfaced in December of 1999 when then KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) accused Soong of involvement in irregular money transactions involving hundreds of millions of NT dollars.

Yang said the transactions took place during Soong's tenure as the party's secretary-general and during his time as governor of the Taiwan Provincial Government.

In the run-up to the 2000 presidential election, the KMT decided to sue Soong for embezzling party funds totaling around NT$360 million and forging party seals to open bank accounts in the party's name without authorization.

The KMT took advantage of the investigation to attack So-ong, and the political fallout dealt a severe blow to Soong's campaign for the 2000 presidential election.

On Jan. 20, 2001, the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office announced its decision not to prosecute Soong.

It claimed there was insufficient evidence for an indictment on the charges of misappropriation, forgery, fraud, breach of trust, money laundering and tax evasion.
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