The government will ask France to hand over confidential information about the kickback and murder scandal involving Taiwan's 1991 purchase of Lafayette-class frigates, in exchange for settling out of court a massive lawsuit related to the scandal, a local newspaper reported yesterday.
In 2003 the Taiwanese navy filed a suit in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Paris against France Thomson-CSF (now known as Thales), demanding that the firm return US$99 million -- an amount the Navy claims is equivalent to the kickbacks the company received during the purchase of six frigates from France.
Members of a special prosecutorial panel investigating the high-profile scandal told the Chinese-language newspaper the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister newspaper) that probes had revealed evidence of irregularities in the deal, and public pressure was mounting on the French government to resolve the scandal. Since Taiwan seemed likely to win the lawsuit against Thales, the French government has softened its attitude and now hopes to negotiate a settlement with Taiwan out of court, the panel members said in the report.
The panel members told the Liberty Times they would like to ask the French government to declassify a confidential archive about the warships deal as a conditions for settling the suit.
The French government has four times rejected French judges' requests to declassify the confidential archive, citing national security.
Meanwhile, Tu Cheng Chun-chu (
"Tu will return to Taiwan tonight and she is planning to say something of importance about the scandal, which might astonish Taiwan, China and France," he said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (
In reaction to the story run by the Liberty Times yesterday that said that there had been progress in the case in recent days, Ker said yesterday that the Lafayette scandal was the largest scandal in Taiwan's history and it was imperative that the case be resolved.
"As far as I know, France has found a lot of new evidence and its decoding of this case is beyond our imagination. But recently, people in Taiwan have paid too much attention to the corruption scandal involving President Chen Shui-bian's (
In response to Ker, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Pan Wei-kang said that the DPP's was bringing up the Lafayette scandal at this time in order to shift the focus away from the government's recent scandals and to try to influence the year-end Taipei mayoral election.
Pan referred to the impact of the scandal on the KMT's Taipei mayoral candidate Hau Long-bin (
"We also hope that the Lafayette scandal will be cleared up as soon as possible, but the government shouldn't regard the investigation into the scandal as a means to protect itself and attack opposition parties," Pan said.
But Ker later dismissed such accusations, saying they were "immoral."
Also yesterday, People First Party Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) appealed to the government to cooperate with the French government to clear up the scandal.
"We often hear information leaked from the government that it has made a breakthrough in the investigation, but then that turns out not to be the case," Chang said. "We hope the information isn't false again this time."
According to the Liberty Times report, the panel said that declassifying the French archive could help it to come up with a comprehensive list of Taiwanese officials suspected of involvement in the kickback scandal.
In April, Thales filed a lawsuit demanding US$200 million in compensation from the navy for the alleged damage inflicted on the company's reputation by allegations of massive corruption in the purchase deal.
Thales insist there were no kickbacks involved in the deal, and says that Taiwanese judicial authorities have not yet produced evidence to back up allegations of corruption.
A special prosecutorial panel investigating the high-profile kickback scandal has scrutinized a large number of Swiss court files believed to be related to the kickback scandal.
The files were released by the Swiss government in November last year.
They include information about 46 bank accounts in the name of Andrew Wang (
The files also include details on a number of previously unexposed overseas bank accounts related to the US$2.8 billion Lafayette deal, as well as information about account transactions.
But the panel has not revealed what criminal evidence they have found in the files.
Andrew Wang fled the country following the death of navy Captain Yin, who was murdered in late 1993. Yin is widely believed to have been about to blow the whistle on colleagues who were taking kickbacks from the deal.
Wang has been charged in absentia with murder, corruption, money laundering and fraud.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique