Affidavits not used, says bureau

The Investigation Bureau yesterday rejected a news report that said prosecutors in charge of an embezzlement investigation had asked bureau agents to sign affidavits saying that they would not leak any details of the investigation to outsiders.

The bureau has come in for criticism for leaking confidential information to certain Chinese-language newspapers such as the United Daily News or politicians like Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) while investigating corruption allegations including the president's son-in-law Chao Chien-ming's (趙建銘) insider trading case, the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal and the Sogo Department voucher scandal.

While some of the confidential information publicized by the press and Chiu was subsequently found to be true by prosecutors, other revelations were found to be groundless.

The United Daily News yesterday reported that Prosecutor Eric Chen (陳瑞仁) of the Black Gold Investigation Center of the Taiwan High Court had asked several bureau agents to sign confidential agreements before handing them documents related to the embezzlement case for analysis.

"The report was groundless. It was probably an attempt to make mischief between prosecutors and the bureau. The bureau is seriously unhappy with the newspaper and the report," a bureau press statement said yesterday.

Chen, who has been busy interviewing people to determine if reciepts submitted for reimbursement by the Presidential Office were real, yesterday also denied the report.

Last December two agents from the Investigation Bureau's Kaohsiung branch were disciplined for leaking KRTC probe details to Chiu.

When Taipei prosecutors raided Vice Minister of the Interior Yen Wan-chin's (顏萬進) office as part of the investigation into allegations of bribe taking in connection with the construction of a cable car system in Taipei's Beitou District last month, they took the unprecedented step of taking prosecutors' aides with them, instead of bureau agents.

The prosecutors' action was believed to have been taken in order to avoid potential leaks from bureau agents.

Meanwhile, spokesman for the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office Chang Wen-cheng (張文政) yesterday said prosecutors had not decided whether to interview President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as part of the the embezzlement investigation.