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Ex-president's lawyer questions legality of indictment

ROC Central News Agency

2011/06/30 22:04:34

Taipei, June 30 (CNA) The lawyer representing former President Lee Teng-hui said Thursday the embezzlement charge against Lee was questionable because the state fund at issue was not handed to Lee in the first place.

"The embezzlement charge against Lee did not meet legal requirements since the diplomatic fund in question was given to the National Security Bureau rather than to Lee himself," Wellington Koo, the lawyer, said.

The Special Investigation Division (SID) under the Supreme Prosecutors Office indicted Lee on corruption charges earlier in the day, accusing him of embezzling US$7.79 million from state coffers.

Lee is being accused of pocketing diplomatic funds with his close aide, Liu Tai-ying, during his tenure in office between 1988 and 2000.

"Lee Teng-hui pocketed US$7.79 million for his own personal use through money-laundering," the SDI office said in a statement. "In order to set up the Taiwan Research Institute, he consulted with his advisers and decided to get the money from a National Security Bureau project fund."

Commenting on the SDI statement, Koo said the legal provision cited by prosecutors was not credible.

Arguing that the Anti-Corruption Act defines embezzlement as a crime in which a public office holder pockets public funds or property under his or her management, Koo said the diplomatic fund in question in the case was not officially entrusted to Lee.

Lee, 88, is the second former Taiwanese president to face corruption charges. His successor, Chen Shui-bian, is currently serving a 17.5-year prison term on graft convictions, with more hearings pending.

Prosecutors began investigating the embezzlement case after Lee stepped down in 2000, and three years later charged the National Security Bureau's chief accountant with corruption. Those charges were eventually dropped for lack of evidence.

Lee's spokesman Wang Yen-chun described Lee as "stunned and bewildered" by the indictment and said that Lee "regretted the false accusation."

"Lee believes justice will prevail and the court will clear his name," Wang said. (By Sofia Wu) enditem/ly