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DPP urges SID to
investigate Wu, others
LINGATE: Today’s edition of ‘Next Magazine’ will
reportedly have stories about involvement of the former premier and of Lin
Join-sane in the Lin Yi-shih case
By Chris Wang, Mo Yan-chih and Rich Chang / Staff reporters
Chen Chun-sheng, left, attorney
for Shen Jo-lan, the mother of detained former Exeutive Yuan secretary-general
Lin Yi-shih, talks to the press yesterday prior to attending the counting of
banknotes turned over to prosecutors by Shen.
Photo: CNA
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
caucus yesterday called for an investigation into the role that China Steel Corp
(CSC, 中鋼), CHC Resource Corp (中聯資源) and Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) might
have played in the Lin Yi-shih (林益世) scandal.
The role the two corporations might have played in the scandal has been
completely ignored by the Special Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation
Division (SID) and it is imperative that the SID clarify those details rather
than focus solely on Lin and his family, DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) told a
press conference.
Former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin is accused of accepting NT$63
million (US$2.1 million) in bribes from businessman Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥) to
help him secure a contract from a subsidiary of China Steel and of then
demanding more money.
Lin, who has reportedly confessed to accepting the NT$63 million, insists he
acted alone and that no member of his family or other government official was
involved.
However, as CSC operations could have played a critical role in the alleged
bribery case, Wu, who served as premier between September 2009 and February this
year, should be investigated for his approval of the controversial appointment
of CSC chairman Tsou Juo-chi (鄒若齊) in 2010 as well, Lee said.
Tsou, who retired from state-controlled CSC in 2002, became the first retired
employee in history to “un-retire” and work for the company when he was named
general manager of the CSC in January 2010 and promoted to the position of
chairman six months later.
According to CSC’s internal personnel regulations, Lee said, the hiring of a
retired employee who is under the age of 65 should be listed as a special case
and be approved by the Executive Yuan.
“That means Tsou’s appointment would not have been possible unless it was
approved by then-premier Wu Den-yih,” Lee said.
Tsou’s management and personnel decisions at CSC have been controversial and
raised suspicions that he was preparing to funnel benefits to other people, DPP
Legislator Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) said.
The first personnel decision Tsou made upon assuming chairmanship was promoting
Hsu Chien-min (徐建民) — whose wife, Sun Hsiang-ying (孫祥英), has been Wu’s close
aide — as public relations director.
Tsou also campaigned for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Wu during last year’s
presidential campaign with the establishment of the booster club of CSC
subsidiaries.
Tsou, who had worked for Walsin Lihwa (華新麗華) before returning to CSC, approved a
NT$1 billion investment to be the major shareholder of Walsin Lihwa steel
company in China — a decision which later proved to be a disaster for CSC, which
reported losses for the first time in its history in the fourth quarter last
year, Cheng said.
Cheng urged the SID to immediately launch an investigation into CSC and said Ma,
who vowed to fight corruption, should order a thorough administrative
investigation of the state-controlled company.
“It is obvious that Wu played a role in the current CSC management, which could
have involved the bribery case of Lin Yi-shih,” DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei
(陳亭妃) said.
“We call for the SID to immediately probe these players before evidence is
destroyed,” the lawmaker said.
Wu’s office declined to comment and said that references made by local media and
guests on political talk shows to “top-level officials” being involved in the
Lin scandal were a fabrication.
Political commentator Hu Chung-hsin (胡忠信) said on a political show on Monday
night that a higher-level government official was also involved in the
corruption scandal, claiming that “Mr X” introduced businessman Chen Chi-hsiang
(陳啟祥) to Lin when Chen Chi-hsiang was trying to secure a contract from a
subsidiary of China Steel.
According to Hu, Mr X described Lin as one of his “top vote brokers in the
South,” and asked Chen Chi-hsiang to discuss the issue with Lin because “he will
solve the problem for you.”
“Vice President Wu doesn’t know who Mr Hu was talking about and is unable to
comment on the fictional Mr X. We have no response to things we have no
knowledge about,” Wu’s office said in a statement.
It is rumored that today’s edition of Next Magazine will run stories about Wu’s
alleged involvement in the corruption case, as well as that of KMT
Secretary-General Lin Join-sane (林中森), who served as Executive Yuan
secretary-general two years ago.
Lin Join-sane yesterday said he would file lawsuits against any “groundless”
accusations.
Meanwhile, Premier Sean Chen named Steven Chen (陳士魁) to be Executive Yuan
secretary-general yesterday to succeed Lin Yi-shih.
The appointment of Steven Chen, who currently serves as deputy
secretary-general, was approved by Ma, a Cabinet statement said.
Before becoming the Cabinet’s deputy secretary-general in early February, Steven
Chen served as the deputy head of the Sports Affairs Council.
Having spent years in public office, Chen has shown himself to be good at
coordinating between the Cabinet and the legislature and moving agendas forward.
He is also well-versed in the Cabinet’s polices and regulations, the statement
said.
The council said Steven Chen was experienced at being a “relief pitcher” in time
of crisis.
For example, he played an instrumental role at the sports council in helping
Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君), who was controversially
disqualified at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, for allegedly wearing
illegal socks at the championship match, bring her case to the Court of
Arbitration for Sport.
Steven Chen’s predecessor, Lin Yi-shih, resigned over a bribery scandal and is
now in custody as prosecutors investigate the case.
In other developments, the SID said yesterday it had completed counting the
NT$18 million worth of wet bills handed over in the investigation.
All the bills were New Taiwan dollars; there was no foreign currency, SID said.
Lin Yi-shih’s mother, Shen Juo-lan (沈若蘭), had stuffed the NT$18 million into
plastic bags and thrown them into a pond in her backyard before investigators
raided her residence in Fongshan District (鳳山) on Sunday.
Shen, who handed the wet bills to prosecutors on Wednesday last week, was listed
as a defendant in the case and released on NT$2 million bail.
Investigators said they spent several days drying the wet bills.
State Prosecutor-General Huang Shyh-ming (黃世銘) said dessicants had to be used to
dry the wet bills.
Shen’s attorney, Chen Chun-sheng (陳君聖), visited the SID yesterday morning.
“I came to check out those bills with prosecutors on behalf of my client,” Chen
Chun-sheng said.
He left the SID office two hours later.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan and CNA
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