20120917 Tsai snubs probe, goes to India

Tsai snubs probe, goes to India

DOUBLE TROUBLE: Despite being cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the Yu Chang Biologics Co case, a Control Yuan probe into her role in the case is still going ahead

By Chris Wang / Staff reporter

Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is to leave for India on Wednesday for a 10-day visit to the south Asian country, Tsai’s office said.

“The trip marks the first step of Tsai’s attempt to revisit and to position Taiwan’s status and role in Asia through a series of visits and discussions,” Tsai office spokesperson Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福) said.

Tsai is scheduled to visit New Delhi, Mumbai and other cities in India and attend various forums for discussion with Indian think tanks and business leaders on bilateral relations, the challenges and opportunities of industrial development under globalization as well as regional security in Asia, Hung said.

Taiwan needs to “upgrade” its understanding of Asia and strengthen its collaboration with Asian countries on many fronts to cope with the challenges of regional security and trade, Hung quoted Tsai as saying.

The former DPP chairperson is also scheduled to visit the US next month — her first US visit since the presidential campaign last year.

Details of Tsai’s itinerary in the US have not yet been announced, but she is expected to visit several cities on the west coast, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, and deliver a speech on Oct. 27 at the Taiwan Center of Greater Los Angeles in San Gabriel, California.

Meanwhile, Tsai reiterated in a press release issued on -Saturday that she would not attend an interview requested by the Control Yuan, which said it would continue with an administrative investigation into the Yu Chang Biologics Co case despite Tsai having been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.

Tsai was cleared of any wrongdoing in the case last month by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID). She had been accused of pressing the state-owned National Development Fund to invest in Yu Chang Biologics Co, now known as TaiMed Biologics Inc, when she served as vice premier under then-premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) in 2007.

Su, who now serves as DPP chairman, also denied the interview request by the Control Yuan.

The Control Yuan’s investigation would be “a waste of government resources” and certain Control Yuan members in charge of the case were suspected of leaking confidential information that was used as a political tool to the media, Su said.

The SID’s 57-page report has detailed every aspect of the case and would be enough to prove her innocence, Tsai said in the press release, adding that her office would submit a 17-page explanation, along with the SID report, to the Control Yuan.