Prosecutors again summoned former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and former Bureau of Investigation director-general Yeh Sheng-mao (葉盛茂) for questioning yesterday, as they tried to figure out what happened to a “classified document” Yeh received from the Toronto-based Egmont Group on possible money-laundering involving Chen’s family early this year.
Yeh was indicted on Aug. 28 for withholding classified information related to the Chen family’s alleged money-laundering activity. On Tuesday, Yeh held a press conference and said he had given a “classified document” to Chen during a meeting in early February.
Yeh added that in another meeting with the former president on Aug. 15, Chen told him that “he could not find the document anymore.”
Chen immediately rebutted those remarks in a press conference on Wednesday, when the former president said that Yeh did report the matter to him but that he never saw any “classified information or document.”
Yeh arrived at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office at 9am, while Chen arrived at 11am. Chen left Chief Prosecutor Kuo Yung-fa’s (郭永發) office around 12:15pm, while Yeh left at around 12:30pm. Both refused to make any comment when approached by reporters.
“I was told that whatever happened during the meeting with prosecutors today should remain confidential, so I cannot tell you what was said during the session,” Chen said.
Meanwhile, Supreme Prosecutors Office’s Special Investigation Panel prosecutors Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南), Chou Shih-yu (周士榆) and Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮) visited the Bureau of Investigation’s Money Laundering Prevention Center (洗錢防治中心) yesterday morning to get the latest update on the investigative proceedings.
“They have been helping us figure out what happened to the money. We wanted an update on some of the information. That’s all,” Chen Yun-nan said.
An official from the Egmont Group was quoted by the Chinese-language China Times recently as expressing shock that the information was passed on to the party involved in the case, a scenario she described as “inconceivable.”
The Egmont official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the organization had never encountered such a scandal since its establishment in 1995.
For this reason, the Egmont Group has asked the Money Laundering Prevention Center to give a detailed report at an annual conference of the group next month, the report said.
A Bureau of Investigation spokesman said on Thursday that “the center has made great efforts over the years in preventing money laundering” and he promised that the center would clarify the matter during the annual conference in Toronto.
The spokesman added that he hoped the matter “will not affect the group’s support for Taiwan.”
Meanwhile, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) urged former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) to face the nation, talk about the money-laundering scandal and provide solid proof if the former president’s family was innocent.
“Only the former first lady knows the whole truth, and I hope she will explain what happened,” Lu said during a visit to Hsinchu yesterday.
Lu also urged the local media to “be quiet” and allow the judicial system to complete its investigation into the case to find out the truth.
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