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FORMER PRESIDENT WILLING TO TESTIFY IN 'LAFAYETTE SCANDAL' PROBE

ROC Central News Agency

2006-07-24 22:52:38

    Taipei, July 24 (CNA) Former President Lee Teng-hui is willing to testify as a witness in the investigation of a kickback and murder scandal involving Taiwan's 1991 procurement of Lafayette-class frigates from France, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Su Chin-chiang said Monday.

    Lee, who is widely known as the TSU's spiritual leader, was quoted as having told Su that he respects the judiciary and would squarely face prosecutorial questioning if necessary.

    A special prosecutorial panel reportedly plans to subpoena Lee as part of the investigation into the high-profile scandal, particularly regarding the government's about-face on the Lafayette procurement instead of South Korea's Ulsan-class warships as originally planned.

    The panel already subpoenaed two former senior officials about the Lafayette deal as witnesses -- former Premier Hau Pei-tsun and former Economic Affairs Minister Vincent Siew who also once served as premier during Lee's presidency.

    Hau told reporters after testifying before the special panel that as then-chief of the General Staff, he didn't have a predominant position on the arms procurement. "The commander-in-chief of the armed forces, or the president, had the final say on the arms deal," he asserted.

    Su said Lee was very upset at Hau's statements. According to Su, Lee insisted he was not involved in the decision-making process over the warship procurement.

    Su quoted Lee as claiming that Hau endorsed the decision to procure Lafayette frigates Oct. 5, 1989. "Before Hau approved that proposal, Lee was not involved in any discussion about the deal," Su quoted Lee as arguing.

    Lee assumed the presidency in 1988, after then-President Chiang Ching-kuo passed away.

    Su said he was unaware whether prosecution authorities have issued a subpoena for Lee.

    The special prosecutorial panel has examined a large number of Swiss court files believed to be related to the Lafayette kickback scandal. The files include information about 46 bank accounts in the name of Andrew Wang -- a key suspect in the scandal -- his three sons and Wang's company. All of the accounts have been frozen by the Swiss federal court.

    The files also include details on a number of previously unexposed overseas bank accounts related to the US$2.8 billion Lafayette deal, as well as information about account transactions.

    Andrew Wang, the French frigate builder Thompson-CSF's Taiwan agent, fled Taiwan following the death of naval Captain Yin Ching-feng, who died under suspicious circumstances in late 1993. Yin was believed to be poised to blow the whistle on colleagues who had allegedly taken kickbacks from the Lafayette deal.

    According to the panel's estimate, the Lafayette deal kickbacks amounted to US$486 million, of which US$120 million was used to bribe Taiwan military or administrative officials.

    After Thompson-CSF, now known as Thales, remitted US$486 million to Wang's Swiss bank accounts, Wang transferred US$120 million of that sum to his accounts in Luxembourg for use in bribing Taiwan officials, according to the panel.

    The additional US$366 million that the French firm gave to Wang was probably used to bribe French officials as well as Chinese military and political leaders to prevent them from voicing opposition to the arms deal, investigators said.

(By Sofia Wu)

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