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| From Taipei Times |
Ex-Taiwan President Lee Comments on Indictment, Paul Mozur, Wall Street Journal
Extraits :
"State prosecutors accused Mr. Lee, 88, of embezzling US$7.8 million between 1994 and 1999 through a fund used to conduct secret diplomatic activities."
"The charges come seven months ahead of key presidential elections widely tipped as a referendum on Mr. Ma's efforts to seek rapprochement with the mainland."
"The Solidarity Union released a statement alleging the indictment was carried out under pressure from Mr. Ma working in league with China to silence Mr. Lee ahead of the elections, which will be held on January 14, 2012."
Extrait :
"Tsai on Friday called the timing of the former president’s indictment “suspicious,” adding that judicial cases “should not be used as tools to serve political interests or for election purposes.”"
Extraits :
"There is no evidence to indicate that Lee embezzled state funds, but even if such evidence was produced, he should be pardoned because “Taiwanese presidents have been able to use state funds at their own discretion without regulations since the era of former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and -Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國),” former presidential adviser Huang Tien-lin (黃天麟) said at a joint press conference hosted by the Taiwan Republic Office."Lee indictment is politically motivated: Ellen Huang, Shih Hsiu-chuan, Taipei Times
"“In the past, the party resorted to assassinations to deal with political opponents, now, it uses the judicial system to lock them up,” he said."
"Kuo lamented what he called a “double standard” in Taiwanese politics, saying that while Lee has been indicted for misusing state funds, the issue of KMT stolen assets remained unresolved."
Extraits :
Independent presidential candidate Ellen Huang (黃越綏) said yesterday that the indictment of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) over embezzlement of public funds was aimed at attacking Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Huang said that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) recently said the charge against Lee would point to Tsai’s involvement in an “816 project” under the secret diplomacy funds from which Lee allegedly embezzled. The 816 project was part of the Mingteh Project (明德專案) focusing on secret diplomacy with the US and Japan. Chiu alleged that Tsai received NT$2.62 million (US$91,147) from the 816 project and passed the money to Yang Chih-heng (楊志恆), who Chiu said was involved in the money-laundering charge against Lee.
The secret diplomacy funds were not created by Lee, but were established under Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and then former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), Huang said. “They were funds at the discretion of presidents for diplomatic purposes. There was no reason to indict Lee because he did not pocket public funds,” she said, adding it was not difficult to find inconsistencies in Lee’s indictment.
Huang said that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was found not guilty in 2008 following an indictment against him in 2006 for misusing his special allowance during his stint as Taipei mayor. However Yu Wen (余文), the city government’s accountant, was jailed for nine months after being convicted of forgery in his handling of Ma’s expense account.
“Given this, how could it possible that Lee was guilty when the accountant general of the case, Hsu Ping-chiang (徐炳強), was already found not guilty,” Huang said.
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