A Control Yuan investigation into the 1992 purchase of French-made Mirage 2000s has concluded that the purchase was flawed and that the Air Force General Headquarters paid NT$36 billion more for the planes than the original price, according to a report leaked to a Chinese-language newspaper.
The daily revealed yesterday the details of a report on the purchase of the jets by a Control Yuan special task force.
The daily also published details of the contract, which was supposed to remain confidential.
The Control Yuan task force originally planned to present the report for review yesterday, but withdrew the report after the details were leaked. The Control Yuan threatened that reporters might be charged for revealing national secrets.
"During the investigative process there have been reports in the media about the purchase, but they have not involved the confidential part. But what the media reported today revealed materials that should have remained confidential," task force member Ku Den-mei (古登美) said.
"The reporters who have revealed the information may face charges," Ku said.
"We are also withdrawing the report for review by related committees partly because the judiciary now has access to Andrew Wang's (
Wang is wanted for his alleged role in kickbacks related to arms purchases.
The Control Yuan did not dispute the newspaper report, saying only that the contents of the investigation were confidential.
The daily reported yesterday that the task force said that the Air Force General Headquarters originally told the Ministry of National Defense that Taiwan would spend 28 billion francs (NT$131.2 billion) on the purchase, but the country ended up paying an additional 6 billion francs (NT$36 billion). The headquarters and the ministry have failed to explain the price difference, the report said.
The newspaper report said the task force saw the initiation of the project as flawed. While major government projects should begin with a purchasing plan, the air force started to negotiate on price and paid 1.2 billion francs in advance, before a purchase plan had been established.
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