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Hsieh says donations not misused

Former premier and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday denied allegations that he misused campaign donations during his 2002 run for mayor in Kaohsiung City.

"I did not put a single penny in my pocket. All the donations were used for election purposes," Hsieh said. "However, I also understand that it is natural for me to suffer and be tortured in public now that I am going for the 2008 presidential election. I totally understand."

Hsieh made his remarks to reporters yesterday morning after a one-hour meeting with the Supreme Court Prosecutors Office's Special Investigation Section (SIS) Prosecutor Chou Chih-jung (周志榮) at his office.

Accompanied by Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), manager of his presidential campaign, Hsieh arrived at the Supreme Court Prosecutors Office at 9.55am and left at 11am.

Kaohsiung branch Prosecutor Lo Chien-hsun (羅建勛) late last year alleged that Hsieh accepted large political donations from a group of construction companies during his term as Kaohsiung mayor in 2002.

contractors

These companies were bidding for construction projects on Kaohsiung's MRT and after making the donations, the companies in question all became contractors for MRT work, Lo alleged.

Lo also listed Hsieh as a defendant in the case before the SIS took over.

Hsieh told reporters yesterday that the political donations he received in 2002 were used purely for campaigning.

"The two donation accounts were under the names of Hsu Cheng-chao (徐政朝), president of my support group, and myself, but the money was managed by Hsu for campaign purposes and I did not take any of the money for my own personal use," he said.

"All the donors summoned by the prosecutors as witnesses in the case told prosecutors that they made the donations in a bid to support me in the election," he said, adding that all of the donations were legal because his campaign did not accept donations from public officials or unknown sources.

Hsieh's meeting with Chou yesterday was not categorized as an interrogation and can only be called a "chat" because prosecutors did not summon him as either a "witness" or "defendant," said SIS spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南).

alone

"I can only tell you we did not summon him. He was alone. He was not accompanied by any lawyers. We invited him here for the meeting," the spokesman said. "Also, due to a gagging order, I can not tell you what happened during the meeting."

Chen paused for a while when asked by the press why Hsieh was not labeled as a witness or a defendant during his talk with Chou.

"I was not in charge of the case and I was not in the courtroom during the meeting so I would not know," Chen said.

DPP caucus whip Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) told a press conference later yesterday that the SIS was being unfair to Hsieh because prosecutors questioned Hsieh yesterday based on "Lo's ideology."

Wang claimed Lo might be attempting to hinder Hsieh's electoral prospects in next year's presidential election.

DPP Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇), who was at the conference, said there was no problem with the donations made in 2002 because the Political Donation Act (政治獻金法) did not take effect until 2004.

KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) camp, meanwhile, denounced Hsieh for shifting the focus by comparing his Kaohsiung MRT corruption case with Ma's special allowance fee lawsuit.

"Hsieh is probably too nervous about his case to make any logical remarks. The Kaohsiung MRT case is totally different from the special allowance case," Ma camp spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH AND CNA
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