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General sues over bribery claims

General Hsu Tai-sheng rings the doorbell of the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office yesterday to file a slander suit against People First Party Legislator Chang Hsien-yao for accusing him of committing bribery. PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES

Marine Corps Lieutenant General Hsu Tai-sheng (徐台生) yesterday filed a slander suit against People First Party Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) for accusing him of bribing a public official in exchange for promotion.

"Honor is the most important thing to the Marines. Chang's accusation has seriously damaged not only my but also the Marines' reputation, so I am filing suit to prove that what he said was not true," Hsu said.

Hsu made the remarks during a press conference held yesterday by the Ministry of National Defense to counter Chang's cash-for-promotion allegation against high-ranking military officers.

After the press conference, Hsu immediately went to the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office to file his slander suit against Chang.

"What Chang said has seriously humiliated the military. We hereby provide evidence in black-and-white to defend our reputation and are filing a suit against him," said ministry spokesman Rear Admiral Wu Chi-fang (吳季方) at the press conference yesterday.

"All candidates for promotion are remarkable and outstanding military personnel. "

Lieutenant General Lee Ching-kuo, deputy chief of the defense ministry's personnel department

Chang on Tuesday claimed that Hsu was promoted to the post of lieutenant general and the commander of the Marines by paying a bribe of NT$8 million (US$249,162) to former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) in 2003.

Chang also claimed that former commander Ko Cheng-sheng (柯政盛) of the Naval Education, Training and Doctrine Development Command had told him that he had turned down a similar request from Chen. Ko retired from the military in 2003.

According to a report by the Chinese-language United Daily News, retired major generals Tyson Fu (扶台興) and Huang Ching-hsiang (黃清祥) on Tuesday told reporters that they have heard of similar allegations in the military, adding that they were personally approached with such an offer by Chen which they refused.

In response to Fu and Huang's claims, Hsu said at the press conference that their statements had misled the public.

"Basically, we respect and believe that Fu and Huang are clean. But their statements also imply that those who got promoted got their promotion by paying cash. This is not fair," Hsu said.

The deputy chief of the ministry's personnel department, Lieutenant General Lee Ching-kuo (李清國), said that all promotions of generals or admirals were strictly and clearly regulated in black and white.

"All candidates for promotion are remarkable and outstanding military personnel. However, the number of posts available for promotion is limited. It is impossible to please everybody with the results," Lee said.

When asked by reporters whether the ministry has investigated allegations of bribery demands from the Presidential Office and why the promotion of more than 20 generals and admirals were not made public, Wu and Lee said they had done all they were supposed to do.

"We have filed a request with the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office to investigate this case. I can only assure you that no general or admiral would do such a thing," Wu said.

"However, the Presidential Office is a higher level office than the defense ministry and it is the president who decides on which candidate is promoted. We do not have the authority to comment on the president's decision," he added.
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