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DPP legislator presses Soong on use of military planes

The standoff between DPP legislator-at-large Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) and Chairman of the People First Party James Soong (宋楚瑜) over Soong's use of military planes during his term as provincial governor continued at a press conference yesterday.

Gao accused Soong last week of using military administration planes for personal transportation when he was provincial governor. In response, the PFP vowed to sue for libel.

According to local media reports, the director of the PFP's Policy Research Center, Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀), said that Gao was a minion of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) with special instructions to "distort the truth and confuse the public."

In his defense, Gao provided more detailed figures yesterday, which he said were supplied by an unnamed military source. He also highlighted a change in the military regulations in 1996 that extended military plane privileges to the provincial governor, accusing the military of aiding and abetting Soong in the alleged transgressions.

"While we are not certain this modification was tailored for Soong's use at his request, we are highly suspicious," Gao said.

He asked Lieutenant General Peng Lu-su (彭魯蘇), representing the military at the conference, if he could guarantee none of the 483 flights chartered by Soong over his four-year governorship were used for personal purposes.

According to the results, the former governor would have to have taken a chartered plane on an average of every three days, Gao said. Soong may have used the flights to attend KMT Central Standing Committee (中常委) meetings, he added.

Peng did not offer a direct response, saying that he was not familiar with the figures provided.

He explained that charter records were destroyed annually, and that his office would have to investigate further.

Legislator Tang Huo-sheng (湯火聖) pressed Peng to provide records. "There must be a record of the procedures under which Mr. Soong obtained permission to use military planes," he said.

If Soong was using the planes for personal purposes, the officials who allowed him to do so should be held responsible, Tang added.

Peng said that he would comply with DPP requests for information as long as it was not classified.
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