Legal experts yesterday said they suspected former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had an ulterior motive after he gave a public talk after filing complaints against Taipei prosecutors, accusing them of leaks and violating the confidentiality of a case under investigation.
Ma on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Taipei Chief Prosecutor Shing Tai-chao (邢泰釗) and Taipei Head Prosecutor Wang Hsin-chien (王鑫健) for allegedly leaking details from a case under investigation, after media reports that prosecutors have a recording allegedly implicating Ma in financial irregularities arising from the sale of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) assets more than a decade ago.
Attorney Chou Wu-jung (周武榮) said Ma’s filing was motivated by several factors, among them the opportunity to speak publicly, sending his message via the media that he wanted “to warn those involved in the case not to talk in the wrong way.”
“It is also possible that it was a ploy to send a message to the other people involved in the case that they should collude on evidence and testimony,” Chou said.
Another likely motive was to muddle information and drag the case onto the political front line, perhaps because he feels the investigation was heading in an unfavorable direction, Chou added.
“Ma applied to transfer the investigation to another jurisdiction which could create the impression of political interference in the affairs of the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office,” he said.
“Ma is paving the way for the future so he can claim that he has been wronged and received unfair treatment, and could then denounce the prosecution process,” he added.
Chou said that Ma’s accusation that Taipei prosecutors “leaked information” was inaccurate and the basic premise of Ma’s accusation is contradictory.
“If Ma admitted that the media reports were accurate information, only then it could be considered a ‘leak.’ If the information was not correct, then there could not be a leak,” he said.
Chou said that if the information in the media reports was incorrect, “then Ma should sue the media outlets for libel. Ma’s legal move shows that he has ulterior motives in mind.”
“Ma’s legal move was clearly an attempt to cover up his tracks, as he knows the investigation is closing in on him and he had to take up damage control,” lawyer Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠) said.
Ma’s application to transfer the case to another jurisdiction would likely not succeed, as it would be seen as subverting the justice system, Kao added.
“Asking for the case to be transfered to other prosecutors, just because the judicial investigation seems to have Ma cornered in an unfavorable position, could be seen as a subversion of justice,” Kao said.
Attorney Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), an executive member of the Taiwan Jury Association, said if it was true what Ma said “then let us make a concession for them,” during meetings with KMT officials about the NT$480 million (US$16 million at the current exchange rate) price difference on the sale of China Television Co, then it would suggest that Ma was the main decisionmaker in the KMT’s transactions that gave financial favors to the buyers and which adversely damaged the interests of the company’s shareholders.
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