Chang Hsiu, Ching's lawyer, was quoted by the United Evening News as saying yesterday his client is getting ready all papers to explain his role in the case.

Together with Wu Shi-tsai, Ching has been charged with cheating the Ministry of Foreign Affairs out of US$30 million by claiming they could help set up diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.

"My client will do so before Ma Ying-jeou is sworn in as president," Chang told the Chinese press in Los Angeles, California.

Mrs. Ching lives in Los Angeles. Police believe Ching went into hiding near the southern Californian city in April 2007.

His lawyer said Ching will appear in public in Los Angeles. "He is an American citizen," he emphasized. "Where else should he appear?"

If possible, Chang said, Ching will show up in a week from now.

The lawyer admitted Ching and Chiou I-jen, who just stepped down as vice premier Tuesday, had frequently engaged in telephone conversations long before the case came to light.

In August 2006, Chiou, then secretary-general at the National Security Council, ordered James Huang, foreign minister, to meet Ching and Wu to start getting Port Moresby to switch diplomatic recognition from Beijing to Taipei.

Huang was told to remit the money to a joint account the two brokers held at the OCBC Bank in Singapore on Sept. 24, 2006. He called a stop to the brokering at the end of the year and demanded the money back.

The money was gone.

"The NT$1 billion (US$30 million) was not just for the Papua New Guinea deal," said Chang, who became a confidant of Ching after he had helped the latter emigrate to the United States 25 years before.

"Of course," Chang went on, "the money was meant for other governments, not just for the one at Port Moresby. A third country was involved."

He declined to name any other countries with which his client promised to help Taiwan set up diplomatic ties.

Chang said he contacted Ching "a few days ago" and accepted to be retained as his attorney at law.

"Now that the case has come to light," Chang said, "my client does not blame Chiou, nor Huang." "At my advice," he pointed out, "he is gathering together all the necessary papers, which he will show when he comes out to explain the part he played in the unsuccessful deal."

However, Chang denied that Ching had all the money sent back to Taipei from Singapore. Wu Shi-tsai claimed on Wednesday that all US$29.8 million was remitted back to Chiou, Huang, and Ko Chen-heng, deputy minister of national defense.

Under questioning, Wu said Ching had US$9.8 million carried back to Huang in cash by Chang Chiang-sheng, a secretary to the foreign minister. The remaining US$20 million was remitted to Chiou and Ko.

All three Cabinet ministers resigned to take responsibility on Tuesday. Chiou, questioned as a defendant, was released without bail.

"What went wrong in the whole deal is that the Foreign Ministry did not formally commission my client," Chang said. "There wasn't even a written memorandum on the secret appointment."

The lawyer did not mention that no commissioning in writing is possible in any secret diplomatic deal.

On the other hand, Chang claimed he has evidence to prove his client "accomplished his entrusted mission."

One top government official of Papua New Guinea signed a joint communique to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Chang said.

"I have a copy of the communique, which that official signed in his capacity as acting minister of foreign affairs. It is dated. The venue where the signing took place is clearly stated."

"That document just awaited Huang's signing," Chang claimed. Huang signed no joint communiques for the establishment of diplomatic ties between Papua New Guinea and Taiwan.

In particular, Chang said, the whole episode must have been "a simple and easy affair." "It's a deal between the Taiwan government on the one hand and Ching and Wu on the other," he stressed.

"Wu and Ching were capable of making the deal and they deserved remuneration," Chang said. "It's just as simple as that."

He said Ching just took the money he deserved: a "working fund" which Wu said Ching had advanced, plus the reward for work on similar brokering with a third country. The actual remittance to the Singapore bank was US$29.8 million.