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Ministry searching for leak source

Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers who say that former Kaohsiung prosecutor Lo Chien-hsu's accusations against former premier Frank Hsieh are groundless show their support yesterday for the party's presidential hopeful in front of the Legislative Yuan. PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) said yesterday the ministry has not discovered who leaked a prosecutorial document to the Chinese-language Next Magazine.

"We have interviewed seven staff at the Kaoshiung bureau of the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office, including prosecutor Lo Chien-hsun (羅建勛), and we are sure the document was not leaked by the bureau or Lo," Lee told a press conference yesterday evening.

Lee made the remarks in response to a call by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus on Thursday urging the ministry to identify the person who leaked the document to Next Magazine. The document was issued by the Kaohsiung bureau of the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office's to the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau.

The magazine on Wednesday published a copy of what it said was an official document signed by Kaohsiung Prosecutor Lo that had been sent from the Kaohsiung bureau to the Investigation Bureau on April 3.

The magazine said Lo believed former premier Frank Hseih (謝長廷), who is vying for the DPP's nomination for next year's presidential election, should be indicted on corruption charges on suspicion of accepting illegal donations from a Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) board member and others during his term as mayor of Kaohsiung.

Hsieh became a target in investigations into the KRTC bidding scandal in March last year. The magazine said Lo -- who was in charge of investigations into the 2002 KRTC scandal -- believes Hsieh violated the Statute for the Punishment of Corruption (貪污治罪條例).

The Kaohsiung bureau confirmed on Wednesday that the document was genuine, but said it was sent by Lo himself and that the "terminology" in the document was "flawed."

Lee yesterday said seven employees at the ministry's Investigation Bureau were also interviewed and were not suspected of leaking the document.

Lee said Taipei prosecutors had also questioned two journalists from Next Magazine. One of them, Hsieh Zhong-liang (謝忠良), said he received the document from an "unknown" person.

The ministry has not identified who disclosed the document, but will continue its investigation into the leak, Lee said.

Meanwhile, Lo yesterday told reporters that he had not leaked the prosecutorial document to the magazine, adding that he was willing to take a lie detector test to prove his innocence.
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