A spokesman for first lady Wu Shu-chen (
Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥), the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) campaign finance liaison, speaking on behalf of Wu, again denied the former Tuntex chair-man's allegation that he had visited Wu twice at her former residence on Minsheng East Road and personally offered the money to her.
Reacting to Chen's demand that Wu take a polygraph test to prove she has not lied about his visits, Huang said: "The first lady said she is willing to be investigated as long as Chen returns to Taiwan to face a judicial investigation."
In response to Chen's allegation that the DPP had received a total of NT$20.3 million in donations from him, and not just the NT$10 million the party claims to have received, Secretary General to the Presidential Office Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), also executive director of the DPP election campaign, said yesterday that Chen's allegations "were nothing new and are boring."
"All the allegations Chen has made still revolve around the same NT$10 million we received. The additional NT$10 million and NT$300,000 Chen claims [to have given] are based on the invoices and a receipt we gave him. But actually they were from the same amount of money," Chiou said.
The invoices were issued by a restaurant and an advertising company which ran campaign affairs for the DPP in 2000.
"We asked the restaurant and the ad company to make out the invoices to Tuntex in order to provide a statement of the company's expenses. Therefore, the invoices simply prove that Chen only gave us NT$10 million," Chiou said.
"The DPP was the one that paid the expenses to the restaurant and the ad company," he said.
Political parties are not required to issue receipts to their donors.
The DPP asked the restaurant and ad company to issue the invoices in order to help Tuntex keep a record of its expenses, Chiou said.
The NT$300,000 receipt was issued to Tuntex for tax purposes. By law, the maximum donation a company can use to offset its taxes is NT$300,000.
Deputy Secretary General to the Presidential Office Chen Che-nan (
He said that the fugitive's allegations were contradictory.
"Chen [Yu-hao] first said that he met with me five times in 2001, but today he said he gave me NT$10 million when he met with me in September 2000," Chen Che-nan said.
Council for Economic Planning and Development Vice Chairman Chang Ching-sen (張景森) also said the tycoon's accusations were inconsistent. Chen Yu-hao has said Chang took NT$1 million from him.
"Since the publication of Chen's three letters accusing me of taking his money, I have been honest in facing the whole thing. His accusations were contradictory. First he said the money he gave me was put in three different bags, but today he said the money was put in one blue bag. This proves Chen's [Yu-hao] accusations were groundless," Chang said.
DPP Legislator Chang Ching-fang (
The former Tuntex chairman claimed that the legislator sent his assistant to meet the president of Tung Ting Gas Corp to talk about bidding for the power plant. He played a 57-minute tape that he claimed was a recording of the conversation between the assistant, Chen Wen-li (
Chen Yu-hao said that because Tung Ting rejected the lawmaker's demand, about a week later its premises were searched by police just as the legislator had reportedly threatened.
The lawmaker said the tycoon was trying to seek revenge by tarnishing his reputation because he once demanded the government auction the stocks Tuntex had mortgaged to local banks.
"I have checked with my assistant, and he told me that he did not meet with Chen Yu-hao in private," the lawmaker said.
"I did not hear my own voice on that tape, and I cannot be sure whether the voice on the tape was that of my assistant. But even if he did meet with the president of Tung Ting, an assistant could not make any decision regarding such a big case," he said.
"I will sue Chen Yu-hao for slander tomorrow if he cannot offer evidence of my involvement in the case," the legislator said.
The assistant also denied any contact with Chen Yu-hao.
additional reporting by Debby Wu
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