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PRESIDENT: 'IF FOUND GUILTY IN THE FIRST TRIAL, I'LL STEP DOWN'

ROC Central News Agency

2006-11-05 22:38:00

    Taipei, Nov. 5 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian said Sunday night that he will resign if a lower court trial finds the first lady guilty of corruption and forgery in an embezzlement case involving the disputed misuse of state affairs funds.

    Defending himself and the first lady at a press conference in the Presidential Office, Chen said he will "bow out" if his wife, Wu Shu-jen, is convicted in the first trial.

    If that happens, "I will step down immediately, instead of waiting until the second or third trial," he said. "Whether I stay or leave is not important," he said, adding that he believes "history will eventually do me justice."

    The hour-long press conference was the president's first public rebuttal to prosecutor Chen Jui-jen's indictment naming the first couple as "joint perpetrators." The president is not being charged, as he is constitutionally immune from prosecution while in office.

    Five other defendants, including two former senior presidential aides and two Presidential Office officials, have been indicted on the lesser charge of forgery, with one being granted deferred prosecution.

    The prosecution charged the first couple used 712 receipts provided by members of the first family and other individuals to illegally claim reimbursements totaling NT$14.8 million from the president's discretionary state affairs fund between 2001 and 2005.

    Corruption by public officials is a felony that carries a minimum sentence of seven years.

    At the press conference, the president complained that the present accounting system governing expenditures by the Presidential Office is confusing and not always consistent.

    Citing Taiwan's difficulties in the international diplomatic arena, Chen said it was necessary to use receipts from different people to muster the funds needed to engage in confidential diplomacy in certain countries. "None of the money went into my pocket," Chen stressed.

    He pointed out that he voluntarily cut his salary by half after being elected president in 2000, saving the nation's coffers NT$33 million over the past six years. "How is it possible that I have embezzled NT$14.8 million using other people's receipts?" he asked.

    Chen also said that he had cooperated fully with the prosecutor during two investigation sessions -- both lasting more than five hours -- with no lawyers present, although he could have used his immunity to deny the interrogation.

    The president praised the prosecutor's investigation as a "victory for Taiwan's judiciary," as well as the "pride of Taiwan's democracy," although he disputed the results of the investigation and found them hardly acceptable.

(By Han Nai-kuo)

ENDITEM/diG