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Taipei
court rules against former vice admiral Lei
By Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Thursday, Jan 14, 2010, Page 3
Taipei District Court yesterday ruled against former vice admiral Lei Hsueh-ming
(雷學明) in a civil suit he filed against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and
others.
Criminal proceedings were finalized on Sept. 30, when the Taiwan High Court
upheld a lower court’s ruling in favor of the former president and current and
former legislators.
The case was filed in late 2005 after Chen, speaking on a TV talk show, accused
five unnamed retired Navy officers of accepting kickbacks for producing false
performance data on Lafayette frigates to persuade the Navy to purchase them
from France rather than alternative vessels from South Korea in 1990.
Chen also claimed that the officers had helped inflate the price of the vessels.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator William Lai (賴清德) and
then-legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) repeated the accusations at a separate press
conference.
Lei, former rear admiral Wang Chin-sheng (王琴生), former captain Kang Shih-chun
(康世淳), former captain Chang Jui-fan (張瑞帆) and former commander Cheng Chih-po
(程志波) filed the slander suit against Chen, Hsu and Lai, seeking NT$2.01 billion
(US$67 million) in compensation.
On June 13, 2007, Swiss officials returned US$34 million in frozen bank deposits
to Taiwan that were believed to be kickbacks connected to the purchase of six
Lafayette-class frigates from France in 1991.
In 2008, the Taipei District Court ruled in favor of Chen, Hsu and Lai, finding
that they did not commit slander because they harbored no ill will and their
remarks were not offensive.
The high court also ruled in their favor, adding that whether kickbacks were
involved in the Lafayette corruption scandal was of public concern.
Lei also pressed civil charges, however, the district court yesterday rejected
the case. The civil case is not final and may be appealed.
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