Principle Zanadau Development Corp shareholder Su Hui-chen (蘇惠珍) yesterday attributed her near detention on Christmas Eve to a joint plot by ruling and opposition politicians to thwart her exposure of their misdeeds.
She singled out Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and leading financier Benny Hu (胡定吾) for criticism, alleging the two spearheaded the cross-party campaign to shut her up.
Wang later dismissed the charge as baseless and was upbeat that investigators will attest to his integrity as the probe into the Zanadau scandal unfolds. Hu has said he will not play into Su's hands, who he earlier said attacked him in a bid to retaliate his denial of bank loans.
Su, who has implicated scores of officials in an influence-peddling scheme, told a news conference in Taipei she could sense a political force to keep her quiet.
Though without concrete evidence, the businesswoman said she suspected Wang and Hu have exploited their connections with the blue and the green camps respectively to intervene in the case.
"That accounted for the recent search of my residence and offices which was conducted in a loose and rough manner," said Su, who has since Dec. 23 been listed as a suspect instead of a witness.
Su is suspected of dishonestly boosting the price of a land in Kaohsiung County where Zanadau intended to build a multi-billion dollar shopping mall. The project ran aground later for a lack of capital.
Su tried to back up her claims by pointing out that Wang retains close ties with Lee Ming-che (李明哲), who has been held in detention for alleged financial irregularities.
"Via Lee, the legislative speaker once asked me for a loan worth over NT$10 million, though the transaction may not necessarily incriminate Wang," she said. "He has probably come under pressure from ruling and opposition colleagues to help end the mess."
Back in 1998, Su reportedly paid a legislative panel an unspecified sum of money to remove their resistance to the privatization of Taiwan Fertilizer Company (Taifertilizer).
The ad hoc committee consisted of then DPP lawmakers Hong Chi-chang (洪奇昌), Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and Lin Wen-lang (林文郎). Former KMT legislators Gary Wang (王令麟), Wu Ko-ching (吳克清) and Chen Ching-pao (陳清寶) also sat on the cross-party panel, as did former New Party members Josephine Chu (朱惠良) and Stella Chou (周荃).
After holding three meetings, the committee decided to dissolve and stop their obstruction of the privatization. Taifertilizer later became a Zanadau shareholder.
Su said, with an undertone of warning, that she would not reveal the moral flaws of any politicians unless she was forced to do so. Her lawyer claimed that Wang approached investigators in September to voice his concerns about the Zanadau probe.
Su in part blamed her misfortunes on the maneuvering of Benny Hu, chairman of China Development Industrial Asset Management Corp.
She said Hu had taken advantage of his connections in the DPP government to seek her imprisonment.
"You can tell his political color by the fact that he almost took the helm of the finance ministry in February," she said.
The legislative speaker, however, denied any involvement in the Zanadau affair and panned charges against him as a smear campaign by political foes.
"It is absolutely untrue that I attempted to influence the investigation," Wang said. "I have tried my best to make friends with all during my 20-year political career."
He said he did solicit a loan from Su on behalf of a lawmaker whose name the speaker said he could no longer remember.
Wang said he roughly knew who was seeking his downfall and cautioned his rivals to exercise restraint.
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