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MOFA tries to limit cash scandal fallout

“The government of the Republic of China strongly opposes any conduct that damages social morals and abuses the freedom of international financial transactions.”

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement

The alleged money-laundering case enveloping former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his family has attracted a great deal of foreign media attention, which has greatly tarnished Taiwan’s international image, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.

The ministry has released a statement to its embassies and representative offices, instructing them on how to respond to inquiries about the case as part of a “damage control” effort, ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said.

“The government of the Republic of China strongly opposes any conduct that damages social morals and abuses the freedom of international financial transactions. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has repeatedly stressed that even the head of state is not above the law,” the ministry statement said.

The ministry reiterated that it would fully cooperate with authorities investigating the allegations.

The ministry statement said that although Taiwan has made rapid progress in its democratic development, the country still lacks the legal basis needed to fully supervise the financial behaviors of public servants.

“To make Taiwan’s democratic system more complete, both the ruling and the opposition parties have agreed to list an unaccountable asset act as a priority item in the next legislative session,” the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) vowed yesterday to cultivate a clean government and bring public servants involved in irregularities to justice.

“To establish a clean government is never a slogan, but a contract we have signed with the public ... We have to make the government come out on top in terms of integrity and transparency and make people proud of the government they elected,” Liu told the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday.

“Jurispudence is the last line of defense for social equality and justice. Anyone who violates the law will be subject to justice regardless of their social status or party affiliation,” Liu said.

He urged all public servants to abide by the set of ethics for all government employees that took effect on Aug. 1.

Meanwhile, Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) denied a report in the Chinese-language China Times that she had been named by Liu to lead an ministerial task force to investigate the money-laundering allegations surrounding the former first family.

Wang made the remarks amid rumors that high-level officials have their hands in a case now under investigation by the Special Investigative Panel of the Supreme Prosecutor Office.

At a separate setting yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) shrugged off speculation that the pan-blue camp had conspired to sabotage the former president.

Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) alleged last week that Cabinet Secretary-General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川) had leaked information to Hung to manipulate the case against Chen Shui-bian.

Hsueh dismissed Ker’s claim as groundless.

“The tension across the Taiwan Strait could be relaxed and so could the tension between political camps in Taiwan,” Hung said.

She said the public should focus on the allegations against the former president, adding that Chen Shui-bian’s case was an opportunity for the public to “tell right from wrong” and “rebuild the values of Taiwan.”

In related news, Henry Chen said Control Yuan investigators spent two hours at the ministry yesterday afternoon to collect information for a probe into why Taiwan’s Swiss Representative Office, in particular Representative George Liu (劉寬平), took more than two weeks to inform the ministry about the Swiss authority’s request for assistance on the money laundering case involving the former first family.

Even the investigators, Henry Chen said, felt there were some “serious loopholes” in the representative office’s report explaining the delay.

He said he could not divulge any details of the report.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING AND FLORA WANG

Also See: EDITORIAL: Does the corruption stop here?
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