The KMT announced yesterday that it had filed a criminal lawsuit against independent presidential candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) for embezzlement and forgery while serving as a high-ranking party official.
A senior KMT official yesterday said the lawsuit is part of a dual strategy aimed at limiting Soong's chances of winning the March 18 election, while the party's propaganda machine prepared to make a "soft" appeal to veterans' families to "return" to the KMT.
Party officials announced the lawsuit during a news conference at KMT headquarters yesterday following the weekly central standing committee meeting.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES.
"The incident is a judicial issue, not a political matter and therefore the public should see the case being pursued through a judicial approach,'' said KMT spokesperson Huang Hwei-chen (黃輝珍).
When asked by reporters whether President and KMT chairman Lee Teng-hui (
"Even though Lee himself won't make an appearance in court, if necessary he could write a statement to the court or else delegate KMT officials to attend the court session," Huang said.
According to Chang Nai-liang (
The KMT also accused Soong's sister-in-law, Chen Pi-yun (
Another of the KMT's lawyers for the case said that after the courts handle the criminal charges the ruling party would file a civil suit to try to recover the money it says Soong stole.
A resolution by KMT headquarters, Huang said, is that the party will give the money to charity.
Spokesmen for Soong, how-ever, said they planned to file a countersuit against the KMT for bringing fabricated charges and for deliberately attempting to prevent Soong from being elected as the next president.
While the KMT strongly denies Soong's claim that he and Lee had established a "trust" to handle party money -- the candidate's staff claims to have evidence to prove Soong's innocence.
Hours after the lawsuit was filed, a team of defense lawyers told reporters that the KMT did not have a case.
Soong's attorneys said that Lee approved the transfer of funds for party operations and Soong never embezzled the money.
``We challenge Lee to take a lie-detector test,'' Soong spokesman Liao Wen-chang (
In addition to the seesawing legal drama yesterday, high-ranking KMT officials targeted veterans groups across Taiwan, urging them to abandon Soong in order to save KMT candidate Lien Chan (3s戰).
"The most crucial significance of the unusual financial dealings with the Chung Hsing Bills Finance Corp accounts is that the scandal has damaged Soong, changing him from the most likely winner to the most hopeless loser,'' said Chen Kang-chin (3祟高?, head of the KMT's Taiwan provincial affairs department.
"Soong still has the ability to upset the KMT's dynasty, but lacks the possibility of winning the presidential race on his own," Chen added.
Chen said the KMT would spare no effort to court the families of military veterans -- many of whom are believed to support Soong -- into switching to Lien.
He said the campaign landscape would then become a pitched battle between Lien and the DPP's candidate, Chen Shui-bian (
Further highlighting its strategy, the KMT has already launched a series of negative television ads claiming that Chen has repeatedly changed his stance on many issues thoughout his political career and therefore lacks both stability and credibility.
The KMT's Chen said rural areas are the final bastion of support for the KMT regime.
"Our largest support base lies in Taiwan province, rather than the capital of Taipei," he said.
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Friday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
RSS