Chen apologizes for hiding funds

Chen, a lawyer, insisted his wife had made the wire transfers absolutely without his knowledge.

Among his major arguments, Chen said there was no law requiring him to report the funds at the time when he received the political donations.

Under Taiwan’s campaign laws, candidates are required to report campaign spending. But candidates were not required to report all political donations until the enactment of the Political Contributions Act in 2004.

Chen said that his wife had stashed the funds overseas in case he needed them after he stepped down from the presidency on May 20.

He said that after learning about the transfers earlier this year, he immediately decided that he would use the funds in the future for Taiwan’s diplomacy.

Defending the act of his wife, Chen said many prominent politicians besides him also had failed to fully report campaign funds.

He also said that former President Lee Teng-hui had wired abroad as much as NT$1 billion in the names of other people.

James Soong, chairman of the people First Party and a former Presidential candidate, had transferred NT$380 million overseas. KMT Honorary Chairman Lien Chan, a former Vice President, has retained huge funds and assets abroad as well, according to Chen.

He even alleged that President Ma Ying-jeou, the incumbent, had failed to faithfully report the accurate figures for his campaign funds in accordance with the regulations.

Full probe

Chen said he is willing to accept criticisms and investigation. But all those he mentioned should also come under probe, he added.

He urged the special criminal investigation task force under the Supreme Prosecutor Office to immediately launch extensive and full investigation into all the cases.

He especially denied that there were any links between the funds his wife wired abroad and the series of scandals during his presidency, including the disappearance of NT$1 billion of public funds, allegedly swindled by two self-claimed diplomatic brokers over a botched attempt to regain Papua New Guinea as a diplomatic ally.

Chen’s open and unexpected admission of the funds abroad is likely to add to his legal woes, since it comes as the former president is already battling charges that he misused public funds.

Leaders and lawmakers of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have been organizing a large-scale public protest on Saturday, Aug. 30 in Taipei against President Ma against what they claimed as the bullying and persecution of a “Taiwanese president.”

Some DPP leaders said they were shocked by Chen’s open admission of the huge fund deposited abroad, when the party has been in deep debt after waging a string of costly election campaigns over the past eight years, including helping Chen win two terms as president.

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