Investigators yesterday interviewed main Zanadau shareholder Su Hui-chen (蘇惠珍), who has accused former KMT business manager Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) of bilking billions of NT dollars from her.
The interrogation, conducted by investigators from Taipei and Kaohsiung offices as well as the anti-money laundering division, took place at a secret location in downtown Taipei to avoid leaks of information.
The probe comes following Su's allegations on Monday that Liu, now chairman of China Development Financial Holding Co, and his agent, Lee Ming-che (李明哲), extracted more than NT$1 billion in cash and other assets from her in exchange for an agreement to help secure bank loans.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
She also said that lawmakers indirectly took her money in an intricate scheme to facilitate construction of a giant shopping mall in Kaohsiung County.
Sources at the Bureau of Investigation said investigators are looking into the veracity of Su's alleged evidence against Liu and Lee, both of whom have denied doing anything wrong.
The former CEO of Zanadau Development Corp said she has receipts, cassettes and other documents as proof. Investigators are expected to question Lee and others named in the controversy in the next few days.
Lee, who reportedly played a pivotal role in the financial dispute, has told Chinese-language media that he got only NT$15 million from Su, a reasonable sum in brokering bank loans.
He insisted that other transactions found in his bank accounts were intended for other purposes. Lee did not elaborate but only said that officials from the Presidential Office and the legislature also played a part in the Zanadau case.
Su said that Liu and Lee promised to help secure more than NT$11 billion in bank loans to finance the Zanadau project on condition they were given a 10-percent "commission." The cash-strapped businesswoman said she paid the sum by buying shares in certain companies and wiring US and NT dollars to Lee's bank accounts.
"To avoid suspicion, I had to carry out those transactions with help from my employees and friends," she said during interviews. "They can all substantiate my testimony, if necessary."
Su, who first made her fortune through brokering court-auctioned real estate, has challenged Liu and Lee to appear with her to clarify the matter.
She said she had meant to have the pair return one-third of their "commission" since they failed to arrange the loans for Zanadau.
"Now I only want justice to be served," Su said, calling Liu and Lee a shrewd couple of "con artists."
Su, who met Liu through DPP lawmaker Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), admitted that her greed helped contribute to her present financial predicament.
"I had believed Liu could satisfy my financial needs in light of his close connections with the political and industrial communities," she said. "And I employed dishonest means in the process of seeking his help."
Su said she would withhold part of the evidence and expose them in the days to come to prevent her case ending up an unsolved mystery.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun said yesterday that the Cabinet would start to investigate the case immediately.
"I've requested Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) to form a task force to find out whether any Cabinet officials are involved in this case," Yu said.
If any government officials are found to be involved in the case and have violated the administrative code, Yu said that the government will mete out appropriate punishments in accordance with the law.
"If any are found to have violated the criminal code, we'll let the judicial system take care of the matter," Yu said.
When asked how to prevent other privatized state-controlled enterprises from repeating the mistake, Yu said that it is important to find out the truth of the case and warn others against making these mistakes. "I believe the same mistake won't happen again if we let them know this time that we won't allow it to happen," he said.
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