Taipei Deputy Mayor Samuel Wu (吳秀光) dismissed a Next Magazine report that said he has been taking bribes from an arms dealing company since 2004, and filed a defamation lawsuit against the weekly publication.
Wu said he had taken consulting fees from the arms dealing company Lai Fu Trading Co between 2004 and 2006 for conducting a research project on arms supply and national security for the company while working as a professor at Shih Hsin University.
Wu said he stopped taking the NT$90,000 monthly consulting fee after the project was completed in June 2006. Wu took up the position of deputy mayor in December that year.
PHOTO: CNA
The story published yesterday said the company won a bid to become a contractor for the construction of the city’s Neihu MRT line in 2003, and Wu continued to take the company’s money after assuming office as deputy mayor.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) yesterday said he believed in Wu’s integrity, but added that he had ordered Taipei City’s Department of Government Ethics to look into the case.
Wu denied the magazine’s allegations, and promised to cooperate with the investigation.
Wu was director of Taipei City’s Research, Development and Evaluation Commission in former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration between 1999 and 2003, and served as the director of the city’s Civil Affairs Department from 2003 to 2004.
As one of Ma’s top aides, Wu later served as deputy director of Ma’s New Taiwanese Foundation between 2004 and 2006.
Wu said he did not inform Ma about the consulting fees from the arms dealer because he did not hold any position with government agencies at that time.
At a press conference at the legislature yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) and deputy whip Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said that Wu had been director of Taipei’s Bureau of Civil Affairs and vice president of the New Taiwanese Cultural Foundation (新台灣人基金會) during Ma’s terms as Taipei mayor and thus was part of Ma’s inner circle.
The two speculated that Ma may have profited from the more than NT$1 million (US$33,000) that Wu had received in consultancy fees from the arms dealers, and urged Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) to launch an in-depth investigation following her inauguration as justice minister.
Kuan said that Wu was a favorite of Ma.
He said that if the reports were true and Lai Fu Trading Co had business dealings with the Taipei City Government — but continued to pay Wu after he became Taipei deputy mayor — then that would constitute a conflict of interest and serious corruption.
In response, KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) yesterday defended Samuel Wu’s integrity, saying that he trusted him.
He urged the magazine to present evidence to back up its accusation.
Wu Yu-sheng said he was uncertain whether the incident would have a negative impact on Ma’s new administration.
Meanwhile, KMT caucus acting secretary-general Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) condemned the DPP caucus over its claim that Ma could have profited from Samuel Wu’s relationship with the arms dealer.
Hsieh urged the DPP caucus to prove its claim.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang and CNA
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