The Presidential Office yesterday tried to pre-empt news of the indictment of the first lady by holding an unscheduled press conference, claiming that prosecutors might be confused because the president couldn't reveal "secret" information related to the case.
Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Cho Jung-tai (
Cho made the remarks at an informal press conference he called at 11:40am yesterday.
Last-minute
As rumors started to spread around noon that prosecutors were preparing to wrap up their investigation into Chen's alleged embezzlement from the fund, Cho called a last-minute press conference, indicating that he may have been aware that the first lady would be indicted, even before prosecutors officially announced the indictment at 4pm.
As of press time, the Presidential Office had made no further comments about the indictment.
Cho said that the Presidential Office hoped that prosecutors would not misunderstand the president's situation, because he couldn't reveal "extremely confidential" things to them.
Cho restated Chen's previous statement that the president never stole from the state fund, saying that the entire fund was used for public affairs.
Chen last month survived a second parliamentary vote aimed at ousting him after the opposition failed to garner enough support.
The first recall motion to drive him out of office failed to pass the legislature in June.
According to a story by the Central News Agency, Cho said the main part of the state fund was spent on six major projects.
Expenditure
The president spent NT$35 million on "lobbying," NT$6.6 million on "supporting democratic activities," NT$2.5 million on "the nation's efforts to join the UN," NT$3.2 million on "supporting human-rights activities," and NT$10 million on "expanding the nation's international space."
The amount used for these six projects in 2003 and 2004 was NT$59.3million, Cho added.
When asked why he had called a press conference, Cho said he had no specific reason, but said that the Presidential Office had recently finished sorting out relevant receipts.
In a related development, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday called off a planned visit to Penghu and returned to Taipei.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
RSS