Blackmail case under investigation: defense ministry

"The case is not about blackmail as reported by a local newspaper but rather about a grassroots staffer wanting to push for an improvement in internal weapons management, " said MND spokesman Yu Sy-tue.

The Taipei-based Chinese-language China Times daily reported in a front-page story that the scandal-ridden Armaments Bureau under the MND had been hit by yet another humiliation in which the bureau's head received a death threat.

According to the paper, the bureau's director, Lt. Gen. Chen Li-chia, received a letter enclosed with a bullet earlier this month in which the unidentified sender said he had prepared another two cases of bullets to embarrass Chen at any time.

The case shocked military authorities as it marked the first time that a senior military officer has received a bullet threat, the paper said.

The report speculated that the "blackmailer" might be an Armaments Bureau staffer and that the case might be related to personnel arrangements in the bureau's manufacturing division.

In response, Yu said the newspaper report had exaggerated the situation.

"In contrast to the media report, the case was not about blackmail, but rather about a petition, " he argued. Yu denied that two cases of bullets had been removed from an Armaments Bureau factory in southern Taiwan.

According to Yu, the letter was sent by a disgruntled staff member of a military supply manufacturing factory.

"The suspect wrote in the letter that the bullet was not aimed at threatening or intimidating the bureau chief but at reminding him that there was room for improvement in the bureau's control and administration of its arsenal," Yu said.

Stressing, however, that the defense ministry is unlikely to treat the sending of the bullet as a rational petition, Yu said Defense Minister Chen Chao-min has directed relevant agencies to form a special task force to investigate the case.

Moreover, Yu said, the case was referred to the Kaohsiung branch of the military prosecutors office July 8 for them to conduct a thorough investigation.

The Armaments Bureau has been hit by a spate of scandals in the past few months. In one of the most notorious cases, the head and deputy head of the bureau's production division were fired in April after being caught taking leaves of absence in violation of military regulations.

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