In order to quash public inquiries over his intentional absence from a prosecutorial investigation into alleged vote-buying practices, DPP Deputy Secretary-General Lee Chin-yung (
"Though I an deeply upset that prosecutors brought charges against me, I've decided to leave these emotions outside the court. Here, I will only comply with the rules of the court to answer the charges," Lee said yesterday while attending an interrogation session held by the Hualien Prosecutors' Office.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMESN
After days of firmly refusing to respond to a summons from Hualien prosecutors, Lee made a dramatic turnabout yesterday by reporting to the prosecutors.
"Originally I chose to express my discontent through rejecting the prosecutors' investigation. However, during these past few days I've received opinions and advice from my friends and superiors in the party and I realized that -- in the face of the unfair justice system -- I need to deal with it honestly and humbly," Lee said
Though he was undergoing the interrogation, "My faith and my belief haven't changed at all during the process. It's just that I adjusted my way of handling the situation," Lee said.
Lee was charged by Hualien Prosecutors' Office because of a DPP campaign promise to give a monthly service allowance of NT$5,000 to Hualien Aboriginal chieftains if the party's candidate You Ying-lung (
The policy was delivered by You on July 25 during his campaign speech at the establishment of his Aboriginal supporters organization in Hualien.
Lee said he was innocent of the vote-buying charges because he didn't announce the campaign promise on behalf of the candidate and that he did not hold any official position in You's campaign team.
Prior to the interrogation, Lee again condemned the judicial system as unjust: "Treating a candidate's campaign promise as election bribery is the most absurd thing ever ? and it's preposterous for the prosecutors to list me, an irrelevant party staff member, as a defendant and summon me for interrogation."
Lee's sudden compliance with the prosecutors' summons yesterday was widely believed to be due to the pressure from the DPP, which urged Lee to respect the judicial system and avoid setting a bad example for society.
The KMT had criticized Lee's decision to ignore of the prosecutors' summons for the past two days. To quash doubts and further criticism, DPP Secretary-General Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) stated that "certain prosecutor's behaviors do not represent the entire judicial system, and therefore the ruling DPP should respect the judicial institution."
Chang's comments were believed to have persuaded Lee to respond to the legal actions, as the party feared that Lee's litigation case would severely hinder the DPP in the run up to next year's presidential election.
High ranking DPP officials, who declined to be named, said yesterday that they hope to "clean up battlefield" of the by-election as soon as possible in order to prevent any prolonged negative effects on its presidential campaign.
"Right now the DPP needs to pull itself together, so we can commence the presidential campaign soon," officials said.
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