Former minister of foreign affairs James Huang (黃志芳), who fell from grace in 2008 because of his involvement in a scandal involving an alleged attempt to establish diplomatic relations with Papua New Guinea, testified in a Singapore court yesterday.
He and several former government officials have been blamed for being conned out of US$29.8 million by two brokers.
Huang told reporters he felt calm about his court appearance and said he was acting in the best interests of the nation when he agreed to pay the two brokers to help forge ties with Papua New Guinea.
The two brokers, Wu Shih-tsai (吳思才) and Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖), reportedly promised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and former National Security Council secretary-general Chiu I-jen (邱義仁) in 2006 they could help Taiwan establish diplomatic relations with the country if Taipei was willing to pay US$29.8 million to secure the interests of Papuan officials.
The ministry said the deal fell through when both men absconded with funds deposited in a Singaporean bank account co-owned by the ministry and the pair.
Wu has since turned himself in and is serving time in Taipei on fraud charges. He has repeatedly accused his partner of running away with the money but Ching, who is at large in the US, has issued statements saying he is innocent of all wrongdoing.
Taiwan has retrieved US$1.5 million and is trying to retrieve the rest of the funds, which have been frozen by Singapore’s OCBC Bank.
The hearing is expected to last until Friday.
The ministry said Ching asked to be excused from personally appearing at court, citing health issues and asking to participate via teleconference.
Despite Taiwan’s vehement protest, the judge granted Ching’s request yesterday afternoon, a Central News Agency report filed from Singapore said.
Some legal experts said this could be bad for Taiwan, because if the judge had denied his plea, the ministry’s lawyer could have argued that Ching had violated court orders by refusing to answer his subpoena.
Ministry Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said Ching would not take the stand until Thursday, after the witnesses from Taiwan have given their testimony.
Former Department of Pacific and East Asian Affairs director-general Donald Lee (李傳通), now an envoy to the Philippines, and mid-level consul Chang Chiang-sheng (張強生) also appeared at the court yesterday.
Chang was the last ministry official to see Wu before he allegedly ran off with a portion of the money in the middle of the night. Chang said he was asleep when Wu snuck away from the hotel room.
On May 6, 2008, then-premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) approved the resignations of then-vice premier Chiou and Huang. Huang apologized at the time but but maintained his innocence.
“I had planned to step down immediately after the scandal broke, but I felt obligated to assist the prosecutors in the probe. Last night, I decided it was the right time to step down,” Huang told reporters at the time.
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