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First lady defends stock deals, rebuffs allegations

"I am really naive -- that's why I used the name `Wu Shu-chen' when purchasing stocks. But this shows that I am up-front and also shows that I am not violating any law."

Wu Shu-chen, first lady

"I am frank, straightforward, and I am dumb," first lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) said yesterday when asked by reporters to comment on her involvement in the stock market.

"I am really naive -- that's why I used the name `Wu Shu-chen' when purchasing stocks. But this shows that I am up-front and also shows that I am not violating any law," she said.

Wu said that if she really had contravened the law with her deals, she was willing to accept the legal consequences.

She made the remarks during a press conference held by the Presidential Office to introduce a new book about her trip to Europe last July.

Reporters, however, were more interested in allegations by the pan-blue alliance that she might have been involved in insider trading.

Wu said her husband's apology for the uproar over her stock trading was not an admission of illegality, but an attempt to pull the focus of the campaign back to policy issues.

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) made the apology during last Saturday's televised campaign debate. He stressed, however, that there had been no illegal deals.

"As the first lady, I cannot blame the public for its suspicions that I have been involved in insider trading. But the Control Yuan requested an asset and liability report and I've reported [my deals] accordingly," she said.

Making light of the uproar, Wu said: "Many friends have mocked me, saying `how dare you hand in such a poor report.'"

As for reports that Chen asked her to refrain from trading, Wu said: "The president told me to stop, so I stopped. It's not like I have to trade. I respect the president for discussing the matter with me. I don't want to see the this topic kept alive."

Wu said power is a great temptation to people. She said she thought her family had done a good job of avoiding the temptations of power and she reiterated that her purchases of stocks had definitely not involved insider trading.

"If I was bored and wanted to play with my PDA, that can't be illegal can it?" she said.

She compared herself to a first-class prisoner inside a presidential palace without the freedom to even see a movie, because her schedule was planned by other people. She said an extra five minutes to spend looking at art works wasn't even allowed, because people would be waiting to bid farewell to the first lady on the red carpet.

She said she looked forward to doing whatever she wanted -- as long as it was legal -- one day when she was no longer the first lady.
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