Former commander-in-chief of the navy, Admiral Yeh Chang-tung (葉昌桐) is suspected of covering up the corrupt acts of his subordinates in connection with the purchase of four German-made minesweepers, prosecutors said yesterday in response to media reports.
Yeh is now the highest-ranking former military official to be implicated in arms purchase scandals suspected by prosecutors to be related to the murder of ROC Navy Captain Yin Ching-feng (尹清楓) in 1993.
Chinese-language media reported yesterday that the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office had identified Yeh as a suspect, rather than a witness, for his alleged involvement in the arms purchase scandal.
The spokesperson and deputy prosecutor general of the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office, Chang Wen-cheng (
"We suspect that Yeh covered up former navy commander Yuan Yu-fan's (
Yeh reportedly approved an illegal proposal that Yuan should receive administrative discipline and leave the navy, when he should have followed legal procedure by sending him to military prosecutors after Yuan's offence was discovered in 1991.
Yuan had dealt with the minesweeper purchase when he served at the Navy General Headquarters in 1991. While the money to buy the German minesweepers was remitted to a UK bank before being paid to the German supplier, Yuan allegedly forged documents to have over NT$10 million of the public funds remitted to his own account at a German bank, reports said.
The navy discovered Yuan's offence and its discipline section proposed two options for punishment: either to pursue Yuan with criminal proceedings, or to hand down administrative disciplinary measures and force him to retire from the navy.
All the involved senior officials in the navy hierarchy signed to favor the second, illegal, option, before Yeh made the final decision to adopt that option, allowing Yuan to leave without being prosecuted, the prosecution said.
Also now listed as suspects, in addition to Yeh and Yuan, is a lieutenant commander who allegedly assisted Yuan with the embezzlement, the prosecution said.
Three arms purchase projects in particular are suspected to have led to Captain Yin's murder. They include that of the German minesweeper, that of six French Lafayette-class frigates and that of an Italian-made survey ship.
Prosecutors investigating the Lafayette case will shortly indict allegedly corrupt officials after more than six months of intensive investigation, following the establishment of a special investigation force following President Chen Shui-bian's (
The investigation force is now shifting its focus to the minesweeper case.
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