Tue, Dec 21, 1999 page1

• Another NT$400m surfaces

  SOONG SCANDAL The KMT legislator who launched the controversy that is dogging the independent presidential candidate stoked its fires again yesterday

  • By Oliver Lin / STAFF REPORTER
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  KMT legislator Yang Chi-hsiung (楊|N雄) lobbed yet more accusations of financial impropriety at independent presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) yesterday, alleging that a further NT$477 million went into his sister-in-law's account within a two-week period in late 1994 and early 1995.

  Soong's spokesman reacted quickly, painting Yang's comments as a continuation of a smear campaign. Although he confirmed the existence of the money in the account under her name, he denied any laws had been broken in the process.

  In his third strike against Soong since Dec. 9, Yang listed four bank transactions between Dec. 30, 1994 and Jan. 14, 1995, with a total of more than NT$477 million flowing into Soong's sister-in-law Chen Pi-yun's (3笑捅3) account at the Chung Hsing Bills Finance Corp (???2憎?/CHINESE>).

  "She, as a manager at the [same] company, could not possibly have had that much money of her own," Yang said.

  "What's more dubious is that the money was first deposited into Chen's Bank of Taiwan account in cash, and then transferred to Chung Hsing in checks," he said. "It was truckloads of money. Why was it so troublesome? It must have been that they did not want people to know the sources of the money."

  Soong's spokesman, Yen Jung-chang (顏榮昌), said the money had quite legitimate sources.

  "Some NT$100 million of it was campaign funds left over after the provincial governor's election [in 1994]. Another NT$300 million was donated by the Chihsing Farmland Irrigation Association (?C星1A?ETH>?籈Q會) for setting up the Weichien Foundation (維謙基金會)," Yen said.

  "Soong was invited to chair the foundation, but he was too busy to accept the offer, and he agreed to serve as a member of the board. But the money belonged to the foundation and not him," Yen said.

  "Yang is trying to smear Soong by lumping his campaign money and the foundation's money together," Yen said.

  According to Yang's latest accusation, Chen Pi-yun bought NT$118.9 million of bonds with funds from her account at Chung Hsing on Dec. 30, 1994; she bought another NT$319 million of bonds on Jan. 14, 1995 through the same account. On Jan. 5 and 6, she bought another two batches of bonds, worth NT$10 million and NT$28.8 million respectively.

  When asked why the foundation's money had been placed in Chen's account, Yen said: "It is something for the foundation to answer. I can only speak for Soong."

  The current chairman of the foundation is Tang Chi-ming (-啟明), former director of the department of social affairs under the provincial government, he said.

  "So far as I know, the money was not deposited in cash," Yen said.

  Tang was not available for comment yesterday. Officials at the Chihsing Farmland Irrigation Association told the Taipei Times that the foundation had had nothing to do with the association once the money was donated to it.

  But Chin Chin-sheng (?金生), one of Soong's top campaign officials, said that it was due to considerations of operating convenience that the foundation's funds were placed in a private account. "What really matters is whether any illegality was involved. If not, then what we're taling about is purely technical," Chin said.

  But Yang jeered at their statement. "When Tang was director of the department of social affairs, Soong was provincial governor. He is Soong's man," Yang said. "Besides, Soong himself is a standing director of the board of the foundation.

  "What's more questionable is, why use a private account when revenue from a foundation's account is tax-free?" Yang said. "There are too many questions left unanswered," he said, adding that he was absolutely certain that the funds had been deposited in the form of cash.

  Soong, who has held two press conferences to clarify his story since Yang made his first accusation on Dec. 9, chose not to respond personally to Yang's accusation this time, in line with a strategy that has been suggested by legislators supporting him: less talk, go judicial -- that is, let the court settle the details.

  But analysts said the strategy might not work.

  "`No talk' will not work, and judicial procedures will drag on too long," said Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), a political analyst at National Chengchi University. "People tend to be curious about what the truth is when a presidential candidate is accused of something. If they don't explain, others will speculate on their behalf. That will be even worse."

  An independent lawmaker supporting Soong explained why Soong has not made everything crystal clear.

  "There are things that cannot be said," the lawmaker said in private. "The KMT is such a sullied party that people inside cannot possibly get out of it totally uninvolved. Soong's suffering is the price that people leaving the party have to pay."
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