Sat, Feb 22, 2003 page3

• Wu denies scapegoating assistant

  PASSING THE BUCK? The former minister of defense, at the center of a housing scandal, says he must share in the blame for failing to handle matters on his own

  • By Brian Hsu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Former minister of national defense Wu Shih-wen (伍世文) yesterday denied allegations that he had asked one of his former aides to shoulder the responsibility for a housing scandal.

  Wu said the aide was one of the many military officials who had worked for him and that he does not need to put pressure on the aide.

  He said that the housing scandal is merely an administrative fault resulting from his failure to handle the case by himself.

  Wu made the statements yesterday at a press conference to respond to a front-page story in a Chinese-language newspaper.

  The report, based on information provided by Wu's former aide, Major Chang Cheng-chin (張振勤), alleged that Wu pressured Chang via trusted naval officials to take responsibility for the housing scandal.

  The housing scandal, exposed last year by DPP Legislator Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉), refers to irregularities related to an apartment building that the military plans to build in downtown Taipei.

  In mid-1999, the Ministry of National Defense started accepting applications for the purchase of units in the apartment building from generals who did not own homes themselves.

  Wu, then deputy defense minister, applied for one unit through his office staff. Chang was assigned the job of applying.

  Chang told a Chinese-language newspaper that senior officials in Wu's office just told him to get the job done as soon as possible without providing him with any of Wu's personal documents and the information needed for the application.

  Under Chang's insistence, those senior officials later offered the needed documents and information.

  The application form was not discovered to have problems until last year. Luo, citing copies of the application form, exposed a violation of the rules for generals wanting to buy an apartment.

  According to ministry rules, generals who own houses are not allowed to apply for the new housing units.

  Wu owns two houses in Taipei. But in his application form, he declared himself as having no house of his own.

  Wu blamed Chang for the violation, since Chang was the one who filled out the application.

  In a statement on Oct. 6, Wu said, "As for the purchase in the Kuoyun Hsincheng residential complex, since I had been concentrating on my public duty, I simply mandated my assistants to fill out the application form.

  "When they were filling out the form, they indicated that `my wife, my unmarried, adult children and myself have no housing property' without checking with me," the statement said.

  Wu admitted to being at fault for not having filled out the application form himself. But he insisted that the wrong information in the application form was all due to lack of attention from his staff.

  The violation, if found to be intentional, would cause Wu to face the charge of forgery.

  Wu's suspected attempts to cut all connections with the case drew complaints from Chang.

  Chang insisted that he completed the application form according to information provided by senior officials in Wu's office.

  Afraid of becoming the scapegoat, Chang contacted a Chinese-language newspaper recently in an attempt to save himself.

  In response, the ministry issued an statement saying a task force is investigating the case.

  "Wu's application form has been sent to military police for an understanding of the handwriting on it," the ministry said.

  "Military prosecutors handling the case will seek to find out the truth of the matter regardless of who might be involved," it said.

  Wu, who had been the navy commander-in-chief before taking the defense minister post, has a reputation in the navy for abandoning his subordinates at critical times.

  Vice Admiral Lei Kuang-shu (雷光墅), general affairs office director of the MND, was one of the naval officials who had suffered a setback in his military career because of Wu.

  In 1998, when Wu was navy chief, Lei was removed without notification from his post as commander of the 124th fleet because of an explosion on a fighting ship.
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