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President wants complete probe into military corruption

ROC Central News Agency

2009/07/10 17:35:57
Taipei, July 10 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou has instructed the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to get to the bottom of alleged corruption involving military personnel to restore the public's confidence in the military, the Presidential Office spokesman said Friday.

Ma issued the directive during a meeting with Minister of National Defense Chen Chao-min a day earlier in which Chen gave a briefing on an MND report on internal corruption, Wang Yu-chi said.

The report, which was released Wednesday, reveals that 142 military personnel could be involved in graft or bribery and will be referred to the military prosecutors for further investigation.

According to Wang, Ma was impressed by the MND's action and will examine the progress of related investigations every three months.

He further explained that the MND report reveals only the number of people under investigation and does not provide any names because they are not yet suspects.

The individuals were singled out following the discovery of some "abnormal situations" and further investigation is required to determine the nature of the irregularities, Wang went on.

Given the fact that the media and informed political commentators were the first to break the news about military officers paying bribes in return for promotion, Ma instructed the MND to "leave no stone unturned" in the search for evidence, including information provided by the media, Wang said.

In addition, the president said the MND should explain the progress of the investigation to try to assuage doubt among the public and allow the people to better understand the MND's efforts to bring any perpetrators to justice.

The MND investigation was launched three months ago upon the instructions of Ma, who was embarrassed by the emergence of a string of military corruption scandals and the publication of an international report ranking Taiwan's corruption level as even more serious than that of China.

(By Y.F. Low) ENDITEM/J