Prosecutors at the Black Gold Investigation Center are probing a loan from a sports association at the Ministry of National Defense to one of Taiwan's most famous golf clubs.
According to Tan Cheng-hsiang (覃正祥), a prosecutor at the center, the defense ministry's Armed Forces Sports Association in 1984 lent NT$170 million to the Taipei Golf and Country Club. Under the terms of the loan, the money was to be returned to the sports association within five years.
But by 1989, the debt hadn't been repaid. In addition, before the loan came due, the sports association agreed to change the terms of its agreement with the golf club, saying the NT$170 million was in fact a donation.
Tan also noted yesterday that the defense ministry's sports association invested NT$65 million and NT$20 million in the golf club in 1982 and 1985, respectively.
"The total amount of money involved is almost as high as NT$200 million," Tan said.
Meanwhile, prosecutors yesterday said that thousands of membership cards that belong to military officials were discovered at the golf club during their search of its premises. Most of cards belonged to accounts that were not officially listed on the golf club's account books.
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