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Hsieh to request interrogation records

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said yesterday that he will file a request to secure the records of Prosecutor Wu Wen-chung's (吳文忠) questioning of a former Kaohsiung City Government official.

Hsieh alleged that Wu, a member of the Special Investigation Task Force, had attempted to entice former Kaohsiung Bureau of Urban Development director Wu Meng-teh (吳孟德) into incriminating Hsieh in exchange for a lighter sentence.

SCANDAL

Wu Meng-teh was sentenced to 12 years in prison on July 31 for taking NT$2 million (US$60,000) in bribes in the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp bid-rigging scandal.

Hsieh said Wu Wen-chung told Wu Meng-teh on Aug. 3 that Hsieh had manipulated the court into giving Wu Meng-teh a more severe punishment.

"This is an insult to the judge and me," Hsieh said in Kaohsiung County yesterday.

"This is also an act of sabotage against the judicial system. Therefore, I believe that the recording [of the questioning] should be protected," he said.

"If there were a tape, it should be publicized," he said. "I don't need prosecutors to give me protection by keeping investigations confidential."

Wu Wen-chung and two other prosecutors -- Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮) and Lee Hai-lung (李海龍) -- are in charge of investigating several cases allegedly involving Hsieh.

POLITICAL STANCE

Hsieh's campaign has questioned Wu Wen-chung's political stance and integrity, alleging that Wu had given the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) progress reports on the investigation.

Wu Wen-chung, however, called the accusations groundless, saying that he had summoned Wu Meng-teh for questioning because Wu was believed to be concealing information about suspected irregularities that Hsieh was allegedly involved in.

Meanwhile, the DPP caucus visited State Public Prosecutor Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) yesterday afternoon to urge Chen to replace Wu Wen-chung.

HUMAN RIGHTS

DPP Legislator Wang Shu-hui (王淑慧), who also doubles as the DPP caucus' deputy secretary-general, said that Wu Wen-chung had violated Wu Meng-teh's human rights by summoning him without having a lawyer present during the questioning.

The caucus threatened to instigate a recall of Chen if he did not take action in response to the caucus' request, Wang said.
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