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Prosecutors want to question Lee about bills scandal

Taipei prosecutors yesterday said they want former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to fill in the blanks in the Chung Hsing Bills Finance scandal (興票案).

The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office confirmed that prosecutors have summoned, Lee but spokesman Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達) refused to confirm a date for Lee's appearance.

A Chinese-language media report said yesterday that Chen met with chief prosecutors Lin Bang-liang (林邦樑), Lin Jinn-tsun (林錦村) and Hsueh Wei-ping (薛維平) to discuss the summons.

When questioned about the report, Chen would not confirm that Lee would be interrogated tomorrow.

"We have not decided on a location for the investigative hearing. But, stricter security for a former president will definitely be provided," Chen said.

A reliable source inside the prosecutors' office said that Lee's investigative hearing would be held at Prosecutor-General Morley Shih's (施茂林) office.

The prosecutors' meeting with Lee over the Chung Hsing Bills Finance deal means they have relaunched the investigation into the case after closing it more than two years ago.

Allegations surfaced in December 1999 when then Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) accused People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) of involvement in irregular money transactions involving hundreds of millions of NT dollars.

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

In the run up to the 2000 presidential election, the KMT sued 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 used the case to attack Soong, and the political fallout dealt a severe blow to Soong.
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