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Hsieh informed on activists: Chiu Yi

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) accused Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) yesterday of working as a secret informant on democracy activists during the Martial Law era.

Hsieh categorically denied the allegation.

Chiu told a press conference in Kaohsiung that Hsieh had worked as a secret informant for the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau (MJIB) for eight years after the 1979 Kaohsiung Incident -- an anti-government demonstration organized by Formosa magazine -- providing information about democracy activists.

He showed reporters a copy of an official document signed by former bureau director Wang Kuang-yu (王光宇) listing Hsieh as "counselor" on the bureau's payroll between November 1992 and October 1993.

"Before this [listing], his work with the bureau was under the table," Chiu said. "[Back then] one had to have performed extraordinarily in order to be chosen and promoted to be a counselor."

Chiu said the bureau had paid Hsieh a lot of money for "betraying" members of the dangwai (黨外, opposition) movement.

Chiu did not present evidence to back up that claim.

"I think those who were jailed because they participated in Taiwan's democracy movement should find out whether they were imprisoned because they were sold out by Hsieh," Chiu said.

Talking to reporters during a trip to Kaohsiung, Hsieh denied working as a secret informant for the bureau between 1981 and 1988.

Comparing himself to a "white cloth being smeared with black dye," Hsieh said the allegation was just another trick by his rival to sabotage his campaign and smear his name.

"During that time [the Martial Law era], the police and the Investigation Bureau were everywhere, using every possible means to prevent the DPP from forming. But history proves that the establishment of the party was a success," he said.

Hsieh reminded the reporters that during the eight years Chiu claimed he had served as an informant, he had been indicted and convicted by the KMT government, which showed the absurdity of the allegation.

An article in Next Magazine also claims that Hsieh was showered with cash and expensive gifts in exchange for inside information on the dangwai during the 1980s. The article said Hsieh Yu-nan (謝育男), a section chief in the Control Yuan's Department of Assets who worked as a bureau agent in the 1980s, served as the go-between for Frank Hsieh and the bureau.

The two Hsiehs reportedly attended the same high school.

DPP caucus whip Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) defended Frank Hsieh yesterday, saying his only work for the bureau had been as a member of its anti-corruption committee.

"The anti-corruption committee is an open group. There is nothing secretive about it," she told reporters at a press conference, adding that many prominent people, such as former Judicial Yuan vice president Cheng Chung-mo (城仲模), had also served as members of that committee.

In 1981, Hsieh Yu-nan was working as a journalist and an investigator, Yeh said. It was common for such people to mingle with legislators, city councilors and party representatives, she said.

Hsieh Yu-nan also downplayed claims he had any intimate ties with the DPP candidate.

They were only friendly terms and had dined together on a few occasions, but they had never had a working relationship, he said.

A local cable station quoted Hsieh Yu-nan as saying Frank Hsieh would often offer political insights and views about the Martial Law era, but it was given as one friend to another.

The MJIB said yesterday that Frank Hsieh had served as an unpaid consultant for an anti-graft crackdown in the bureau between 1992 November and 1993 October.

In a statement, the bureau said Frank Hsieh's invitation to work as a consultant for the MJIB had been made in accordance with the law and in the hope that his years of experience as a senior elected official could help the bureau combat corruption.
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