According to a CNA report, France's former foreign minister, Roland Dumas, revealed yesterday in an exclusive interview with Le Figaro, a daily newspaper, that a commission of US$500 million was paid by France in 1991 when six Lafayette-class frigates were sold to Taiwan.
The sum was approved by former president Francois Mitterand, and others including the premier and the finance and budget ministers all knew of the deal.
Of the total, US$400 million was paid to the secretary-general of Taiwan's then ruling party, the KMT, while US$100 million went to the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee in Beijing.
Though Dumas did not name the secretary-general concerned, James Soong (宋楚瑜), now PFP chairman, served as KMT secretary-general from 1989 to 1993.
On Jan. 24, Dumas won a verdict of not guilty in Paris' appeals court, overturning a previous conviction for embezzling from the public treasury that stemmed from the Lafayette case.
On May 31 last year he was sentenced to six months in prison. The publication of yesterday's interview was timed to coincide with the release of Dumas' new book Evidence, Evidence.
In his 430-page book, Dumas does not bring forward any new evidence, but he does give a more detailed explanation of the US$500 million commission that was revealed by Le Figaro in March 2001.
Dumas says that Thomson CSF, the company that sold the frigates, provided the French government with all documents regarding the distribution of commission payments in the summer of 1992, and that the amount totalled US$500 million.
Dumas said that during a dinner on March 18, 1997, he received information from the then Budget Minister Michel Charasse.
Charasse said that, according to customs documents, US$400 million of the commission payments went to the secretary-general of Taiwan's ruling party, and US$100 million went to the central leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.
At that time, he was also told another piece of classified information, namely that "the president approved that I should request that Thomson pay this commission to the Chinese and Taiwanese authorities."
In response to Duma's allegation, PFP spokesman Hsieh Kong-ping (謝公秉) said yesterday that the party's chairman Soong denied any role in the Lafayette deal.
Hsieh said that during the 2000 presidential campaign, Soong was the first presidential candidate to call for further investigation of the scandal in order to dig out the truth.
Hsieh added that, since Dumas might not understand Taiwan's political system, whether what Dumas referred to was the ruling party or the government needed to be clarified.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
PLANE HIT: The Israeli military said it shot down an Iranian Air Force fighter over Tehran, while an Iranian warship sank off Sri Lanka, with no cause known The US and Israel yesterday hit Iran’s capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on the fifth day of the war with Iran. Israel targeted the Iranian leadership and security forces, while the Islamic Republic responded with missile barrages and drone attacks on Israel, and across the region. Tehran residents woke to dawn blasts and Iranian state television showed the ruins of building in the center of the capital. The Shiite seminary city of Qom and multiple other cities were also targeted. With fighter jets roaring overhead, those still in Tehran looked anxiously to the skies. One man, who ran a clothing shop,
RSS