President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will testify before court if he is summoned for questioning over allegations that he received illicit political donations, Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) said yesterday.
Ma has repeatedly denied the allegations and said he is confident of withstanding even the closest scrutiny, Chen said.
“People are obliged to take the stand, if necessary, and of course President Ma would cooperate with the investigation,” he said.
Photo: Chien Jung-feng, Taipei Times
Supreme Court Prosecutors’ Office Prosecutor-General Yen Da-ho (顏大和) on Wednesday said the need to question Ma would be contingent on what prosecutors discover during their investigation.
The Special Investigation Division (SID) in December last year began to investigate allegations by radio host Clara Chou (周玉蔻) that Ma accepted an off-the-book donation of NT$200 million (US$6.3 million) from Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際) during his re-election campaign in 2012 and separate allegations by political commentator Chen Min-feng (陳敏鳳) that at least 12 telecommunications and electronics magnates clandestinely donated a total of NT$200 million to Ma in 2007.
Pundits and opposition politicians accused Ma of being a “guardian angel” for Ting Hsin when the company was under fire following food scandals last year, because he had received large political donations from it.
“It’s not a problem of the possibility [of Ma being questioned] being excluded or not,” Yen said, in response to media inquiries, after Presidential Office Director Kang Bing-cheng (康炳政), Taiwan Lottery Co (台灣彩券) chairman Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川), Helm Technology (翰門企業) chairman Ni Chi-hsi (倪集熙) and former New Micropore (新長豐) chairman Wang Kung-chan (王公展) were questioned by the SID.
All four were released after questioning on Wednesday.
Political commentator Yao Li-ming (姚立明) alleged that illicit donations offered to Ma at a dinner in 2007 were handed to Kang. Yao described Kang, who he said has worked for Ma since 1984, as “a treasurer for Ma” and the president’s close confidant.
Several people have been questioned over the allegations, including Taiwan Memory Co (台灣記憶體公司) chairman John Hsuan (宣明智), senior Ting Hsin executive Wei Ying-chun (魏應充), Siliconware Precision Industries (矽品精密) chairman Bough Lin (林文伯), former People First Party legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), then-First International Telecom Corp (大眾電信) president Charlie Wu (吳清源) and former Chinese National Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文).
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
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