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Taipei prosecutors summon Lee

The Taipei District Court yesterday said it had sent a summons to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and asked him to attend a hearing on Nov. 12 regarding the Zanadau scandal.

"He is now key to many questions about the case. As a result, we need him to provide explanations," said Huang Jiunn-ming (黃俊明), spokesman for the Taipei District Court. "We sent the summons on Monday and he was subpoenaed as a witness in the case."

If Lee shows up, he will become the first former president to attend a court hearing after being summoned.

Huang said Lee must follow the same rules as everybody else but the district court will arrange stricter security for him. Lee's security guards will not be allowed to carry weapons into the court building.

Judge Hu Hung-wen (胡宏文) moved to summon Lee after being told by former China Development Holding Corp chairman Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) that Liu's role in the scandal involved merely following Lee's orders.

According to Hu, the hearing, set for Nov. 12, will be divided into two sessions. The morning session will be open to the public but the afternoon session will be a closed-door meeting as some of the discussion may concern national security.

Liu was indicted on June 6 with prosecutors recommending a 16-year sentence for theft, corruption, breach of trust, document forgery and violations of the Securities Transaction Law (證券交易法), the Corporation Law (公司法), the Money Laundering Control Law (洗錢防制法) and the Business Accounting Law (商業會計法). The alleged offenses relate to 12 separate corporate scandals, including the Zanadau case.

For his involvement in the Zanadau case, Liu was accused of accepting a NT$1.06 billion kickback from Su Hui-chen (蘇惠珍), majority shareholder of Zanadau Development Corp, in return for a promise to help her secure bank financing in 1995. At that time, Lee was president and Liu was chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) Investment and Business Management Committee.

Liu was once known as the KMT's unofficial treasurer and was a close friend of Lee's. He is widely thought to have exercised ultimate control over the KMT's assets during Lee's presidency.

Su has accused Liu of breaking his promise, despite having accepted money from her.

While investigating the Zanadau case, prosecutors found by examining Liu's bank transactions that he allegedly used KMT assets to invest in other companies or mortgages for personal purposes.

Prosecutors' work has also revealed that Liu's activities in 1996 and 1997 allegedly cost the KMT more than NT$80 billion.
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