Lawmakers from the ruling party yesterday said they had uncovered evidence that the leader of a campaign to oust the president was in the pocket of a corrupt businessman on the nation's list of 10 most-wanted fugitives.
However, two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers made contradictory claims about the details of the allegations, and the water was further muddied when a lawyer for former DPP chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) apparently confirmed details, while denying the overall allegations.
DPP Legislator Wang Shih-cheng (
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen Yu-hao fled to China in August 2002, after being indicted on charges stemming from alleged embezzlement of more than NT$60 billion (US$1.8 billion) from the Tuntex Group.
"Shih has admitted that he met with Chen Yu-hao before he launched the anti-Chen campaign," Wang said.
"Everybody knows why Shih initiated the campaign, but I don't want to dirty my own mouth saying it. As for the legitimacy of the campaign, it doesn't have any, because Shih accepted a condo from Chen Yu-hao," he said.
Wang called on Shih to stop serving as an attacker for Chen Yu-hao and a pawn for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Wang questioned why Shih was instigating infighting.
"Is a condo worth it, to do that?"
Showing two color photo copies of what Wang said was Shih's condominium in the "Yen Jiu Yuan" (
The media swarmed over to the apartment, but quickly learned that Shih did not even live in the building complex.
When confronted by reporters, Wang refused to admit that he had been mistaken, saying only that he had deliberately showed the "wrong pictures" of Shih's apartment complex, claiming he wanted to "leave some leeway" for Shih.
But he stood by his claims that Chen Yu-hao had made a shady deal with Shih.
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Lin Kuo-ching (林國慶) backed up the substance of Wang's allegations that Chen Yu-hao had dealings with Shih involving a condo, but said that Shih's condo was actually on the fourth floor of the "Lu Yeh Shan Po" (綠野山坡) apartment complex in Sijhih (汐止), Taipei County.
Lin produced documents that he said had been obtained from a land registration office which showed that the condo was registered under Shih's name, but that the land the complex was built on was registered under Chen Hu Ya-hsiang (陳胡雅香). Lin claimed that Chen Hu was the wife of Chen Yu-hao's brother.
"Who would be so stupid to buy only the building, but not the building and the land?" Lin asked.
"I highly suspect that Shih struck a secret deal with Chen Yu-hao so he would acquire the land from him," Lin said.
He said he suspected that Shih had evaded taxes by failing to include the condo in his income declaration for 2001, and called on Shih to pay the overdue tax.
Lin urged Shih to explain how he obtained the condo.
A lawyer for Shih confirmed that his client owned the condo specified by Lin, but denied that there had been any shady dealings involving Chen Yu-hao.
"The house was not given to Shih for free. Shih bought the house from one of his classmates from elementary school," Lee Wen-chung (李文中), a lawyer for Shih, said in response to the allegations late yesterday, adding that he had seen related documents proving the transaction.
"The man who sold the house to Shih was also surnamed Pan," Lee said.
Lee said that Shih Ming-teh was considering filing a lawsuit against the people who had recently made a string of accusations against him.
"Shih will ask them to bear legal responsibility and ask for compensation," the lawyer said.
Meanwhile, Wang said Shih should make it clear whether he would sue Wang, because if he did, Wang would reveal three "dirty" scandals Shih was involved in, the legislator said.
A spokeswoman for Shih's campaign, Ho De-fen (賀德芬), said that because Shih was not a government official, it did not matter who had provided him with a condominium.
Meanwhile, speaking about the anti-Chen campaign, Ho said that it was expected to reach the fundraising goal of NT$100 million by today.
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