Campaign officials for independent presidential candidate James Soong (
Soong's campaigners blasted high-ranking KMT officials for what they said was an attempt to use the `state machine' to suppress his campaign momentum. They charged that the KMT was manipulating the Control Yuan's investigative report on the candidate's financial dealings involving his relatives' accounts at the Chung Hsing Bills Finance Corp.
"This couldn't be more obvious. With the presidential election coming in less than 40 days, the KMT is attempting to suppress Soong's campaign by indicting him, in order to force him out of the race," said Soong campaign official Sun Ta-chien (
Based on what they described as "inside information" from the Control Yuan, Soong officials said that the KMT plans to forward the conclusions of a report produced by a special Control Yuan task force to the Taipei District Court Prosecution Office.
The report recommended indicting Soong as soon as possible, the candidate's officials said.
Control Yuan officials denied there was any truth to the Soong camp's claims.
"I totally disagree with Soong's comments. Nobody has decided to send the case to Taipei District prosecutors yet,'' said Ma Yi-kung (
Ma said the report is scheduled to be presented to the Control Yuan's financial committee so that it can review the conclusions.
Soong officials said they were preparing for the KMT's attacks.
"Now we [Soong's camp] are simply implementing measures to prevent the KMT from spreading rumors against Soong," Sun said.
"If we are wrong in our claims about the Control Yuan's report, we are willing to apologize," he added.
The KMT responded to the Soong campaign team's claims with strong denials.
Campaign officials for the KMT's presidential candidate, Lien Chan (連戰), hit out at Soong for what they said was an attempt to draw attention away from the scandal in which he is embroiled.
"Soong is merely pointing fin-gers at others in a bid to divert public attention. I believe that unless the Control Yuan says Soong is innocent, he won't be satisfied," said Chen Shei-saint (
The Soong campaign made the accusations yesterday at a hastily called news conference.
In an apparent reference to President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Soong accused high-ranking KMT officials of abusing state power in an effort to undermine his campaign.
"During the Chinese New Year holidays, certain KMT officials decided to apply institutional force to stifle my campaign," Soong said.
He refused to comment on whether the KMT had more hardball tactics planned.
"You [the media] should ask KMT officials instead," he said.
Control Yuan officials, meanwhile, said Soong's presumptions were inconsistent with the facts.
They made the comments while announcing the censure of a state-run bank employee for breaching financial laws by laundering funds linked to Soong's accounts.
The censure is the first concrete action taken by the Control Yuan in connection with the scandal.
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