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Legislators say they have list detailing Lafayette kickbacks

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators said yesterday they had information on individuals who received kickbacks in connection with the Lafayette frigate purchase scandal and urged prosecutors to question the officials who made the decision to buy the French ships in favor of a fleet of South Korean vessels.

Not saying

Although they didn't single anyone out by name, Legislators Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) and William Lai (賴清德) seemed to be referring to former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村), who made the deal with France in 1989.

Hsu said that he recently acquired numerous documents from France and Germany, including a list detailing the names of those who received kickbacks, their bank accounts, who paid the bribes and how the transactions were completed.

"Seven French corporations deposited amounts totaling about NT$17 billion (US$523.4 million) into about 30 bank accounts as kickbacks as a result of the deal," Hsu said.

Hsu said that French officials discovered the secret documents while searching the office of a former French finance minister on May 3.

"One of my French friends saw the documents and informed me about them," Hsu said.

Name names

Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), son of Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) and the man who will represent the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in the Taipei mayoral election at the end of the year, told the press that DPP legislators should release the list of names.

"DPP legislators should make the list known to the public to clear up the matter, rather than using innuendos to influence the year-end election," he said.
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