The second phase of a Control Yuan probe into possible breaches of military security arising from the “Apache VIP tour” started this week, with Lieutenant Colonel Lao Nai-cheng (勞乃成) — the pilot at the center of the controversy — being questioned over his role in the debacle.
The investigation is headed by Control Yuan members Liu Te-hsun (劉德勳), Wang Mei-yu (王美玉) and Chang Kuei-mei (仉桂美).
Lao was questioned by Control Yuan members on Wednesday for six-and-a-half hours in what was described as a “marathon session” from morning until the afternoon.
Lao looked stern and ignored the questions of a throng of journalists when he left the Control Yuan building.
He said nothing when reporters asked if he wanted to apologize to the public for the firestorm the scandal has stirred up.
According to sources present at the session, Lao told Control Yuan members he was willing to take sole responsibility for the affair.
The government watchdog is conducting an investigation into how Lao and other officers from the 601st Air Cavalry Brigade in Taoyuan’s Longtan District (龍潭) were able to invite friends and family members onto the base and conduct tours in restricted areas, and to ascertain if security at the base was compromised.
Lao was also questioned over pictures of him wearing a NT$2 million (US$64,930) integrated helmet and display sight system at a private Halloween party in October last year.
In the first phase of the Control Yuan probe on April 21, 20 military officers associated with the affair were summoned, including former Army Special Forces Command’s Airborne Headquarters commander Lieutenant General Chen Chien-tsai (陳健財), former 601st Air Cavalry Brigade commander Major General Chien Tsung-yuan (簡聰淵) and Major General Huang Kuo-ming (黃國明), deputy inspector-general of the army.
Prosecutors conducting the investigation into the incident said Lao and other officers could be charged with taking unauthorized personnel to a restricted military area and leaking classified materials, and had likely breached articles in the National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), the Punishment Act of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍懲罰法) and the Vital Area Regulations (要塞堡壘地帶法).
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
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