The Taipei District Court yesterday opened a hearing into a graft case involving former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
Lee stands accused of siphoning off US$7.79 million from a special presidential fund to set up a think tank, Taiwan Research Institute, that has served as his private office since he stepped down as president in 2000.
A secret 49 million rand (then US$10.5 million) donation made in May 1994 to maintain friendly relations with the ruling party of then-diplomatic ally South Africa is at the heart of the prosecutors’ case.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Prosecutors say the donation was from a secret National Security Bureau fund to cover a shortfall in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs budget. Created from leftover national security budgets, the fund could only be used with the explicit approval of the president.
Prosecutors say Lee and aide Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) siphoned off US$7.8 million to establish the Taiwan Research Institute when the foreign ministry attempted to return the money sometime between 1998 and 1999. They also allege that Liu pocketed US$440,000.
Liu held financial posts in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) when Lee was party chairman. He was released from prison in April after being convicted in an unrelated banking scandal and serving three years.
The 88-year-old Lee did not -appear in court yesterday, nor did Liu.
Lee’s attorney Wellington Ku (顧立雄) said his client was “furious” about the accusation, which he denies.
If convicted, the former president could face at least 10 years in prison, although prosecutors have indicated that they may ask for a more lenient sentence -because of his age.
Nicknamed “Mr Democracy,” Lee oversaw democratic reform and he became Taiwan’s first directly elected leader in 1996.
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