Fri, Feb 11, 2000 page1

• Report says Soong erred on finances

  SCANDAL A task force has found that Soong was guilty of not accurately reporting on his finances, but has stopped short of calling for his indictment

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  After some 40 days of investigation and with questions still waiting to be answered, a report from the watchdog Control Yuan made available yesterday concluded that independent presidential hopeful James Soong failed to report to proper authorities both election expenses and overseas properties totalling NT$1.1 billion.

  However, the report fell short of recommending that the candidate be prosecuted for the alleged wrongdoing.

  Instead, the Control Yuan left any further action to "related authorities." As a result, Soong could face administrative discipline rather than criminal charges, because the money involved was possibly not actually gained illegally.

  Soong's camp responded positively, with campaign officials saying they agreed with the Control Yuan's report, and that they appreciated its efforts.

  "It proves there's only one truth, and that the truth can stand the test of investigation" said Tsai Yu-ling (蔡玉玲), the Soong camp's lawyer.

  Soong himself emerged late last night, saying he had "never embezzled one cent of government money." He said none of the money in question belonged to the government or taxpayers.

  When the five-person task force was formed on Dec. 31 to investigate the case, it focused on three issues: whether Soong caused potential financial disruptions through his dealings as a public official, whether he had filed fraudulent property taxes or evaded taxes, and whether he had embezzled any money from election campaigns.

  The report said Soong had indeed filed false election expenses during his campaign for provincial governor in the 1994 elections for the post, and that the central election committee later accepted Soong's claim without any further examination.

  As for election expenses, Soong said last night that current laws were inadequate.

  "No one has filed this kind of expense report before," he said, adding that if elected, he would work to change existing laws on election expenses.

  The task force, meanwhile, recommended the justice ministry conduct further investigation and "take possible action."

  It also suggested that the finance ministry and the Central Bank take up the matter of Soong's finances.

  The report found that Soong had failed to accurately account for property acquired while a public servant, and that Soong currently owns five houses in California. It also confirmed that he had used other people's accounts, such as his sister-in-law's, for transferring currency abroad.

  On Wednesday, the task force censured the secretary to the general manager of the Bank of Taiwan, Lin Shao-pin (林少斌), for violating governmental employee discipline guidelines.

  According to Lee Shen-yi (李伸一), task force convener, on Dec. 18-19, 1998, Lin used 20 different accounts in the Bank of Taiwan and Land Bank of Taiwan to purchase traveller's checks totaling NT$30 million (US$928,000) on behalf of Yang Yun-tai (楊雲黛), who served as Taipei office director for Soong when he was governor.

  Lin reportedly made the purchase after Soong's sister-in-law, Chen Pi-yun (陳碧雲), had transferred NT$35 million to Yang.

  DPP member Lin Tsung-nan (林宗男) criticized the Control Yuan's move to pick Lin as the scapegoat. It is a case of "having the guts to attack the fly but not having the balls to challenge the tiger," Lin said.
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