Indicted DPP legislator cries foul

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) yesterday accused prosecutors investigating the Taiwan Dental Association bribery case of being biased.

"It is my understanding that many Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] lawmakers also accepted political `donations' [from the association], but none of them were indicted," Tsai said at the DPP's legislative caucus office.

But KMT Legislator Chang Tsa-mei (張蔡美) was indicted together with Tsai and six other former and incumbent lawmakers for accepting bribes from the association in return for their endorsement of the Oral Healthcare Act (口腔健康法) in 2003.

Tsai was accused of accepting NT$3.5 million (US$110,000) through his brother Tsai Chao-cheng (蔡朝正), an executive at a pharmaceutical company, who was also indicted.

Tsai Huang-liang alleged yesterday that KMT Legislator Lin Yi-shih (林益世) accepted NT$1 million, former KMT legislator Lin Yao-hsing (林耀興) accepted NT$3.5 million and former People First Party spokesman Hsieh Kung-pin (謝公秉) accepted NT$2.5 million from the association.

"I do not see any of them in trouble," Tsai Huang-liang said. "It is difficult to convince me that prosecutors did not act with favoritism during their investigation."

Tsai visited the Ministry of Justice yesterday and presented his allegations to Deputy Minister of Justice Lee Chin-yung (李進勇).

Lee said the ministry would carefully examine the "evidence" Tsai had presented before it decided whether or not to launch another investigation.

Prosecutor Wu Wen-chung (吳文忠) from the Special Investigation Panel under the Supreme Court Prosecutors' Office yesterday told reporters that "Tsai is playing politics, not me."

Wu denied any bias or political considerations were involved and said prosecutors had adopted an agreed set of standards when investigating the case.

As a result of those standards, he said, eight former and incumbent legislators had been indicted on corruption charges, while 33 former and incumbent legislators were not indicted.

For example, Wu said, DPP Legislator Chien Chao-tung (簡肇棟) had received NT$500,000 from the dental association, but had donated the money to two civil associations.

Wu said prosecutors confirmed the money had been received by the two associations, and had therefore not indicted Chien.

Lin Yi-shih dismissed Tsai's allegations. He said that as he had neither initiated or endorsed the act, the association's NT$1 million donation to him was not a bribe.

Legislator Shyu Jong-shyoung (徐中雄) of the KMT said Tsai was making slanderous accusations and politicizing the case.

"This [indictment] had nothing to do with politics. KMT legislators were also indicted," he said.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang