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Lawrence  Chung

I did nothing Lee and Ma didn't do, says ex-Taiwanese president
Former Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian has denied embezzling at least NT$14.8 million (HK$3.64 million) in special state funds and wiring it abroad, and has tried to drag his successor and his predecessor into the fray.
Analysts said  they saw Mr Chen's bid to implicate President Ma Ying-jeou and his citing of Mr Chen's predecessor, Lee Teng-hui,  as his way of signalling that he was being persecuted in a political witch-hunt.
Mr Chen was questioned  by prosecutors for more than four hours yesterday over his alleged role in the scandal, for which his wife, Wu Shu-chen, is being tried. The trial has been suspended as Wu has called in sick 17 times since it began.
Hours later, he  denied any wrongdoing, claiming  prosecutors were unfair to accuse him of embezzling special state funds between May 2000 and August 2006, while he was president.
He cited a case in which Mr Ma was tried on charges similar to the allegations against him.
'In the special monthly allowance case, Ma Ying-jeou was acquitted  not because the Supreme Court stood by his claim that the monthly allowance was actually a kind of subsidy for a senior official,' Mr Chen said. 'Rather, it was because of his claim that his total expenditure during his eight years in office as Taipei's mayor was larger than what he received from the monthly allowance.'
He said if Mr Ma was acquitted, he should also be given fair treatment because he had done the same.
In 2006, legislators from Mr Chen's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party accused Mr Ma, a former Kuomintang chairman, of embezzling NT$11 million in special monthly allowances between 1998 and 2006. He was indicted in February  last year, but was found not guilty  this year.
Mr Chen said unlike the special monthly allowance allocated to senior officials for public spending, the special state fund covers expenses for secret diplomatic missions for which, on many occasions,  receipts could not be produced to account for spending.
He said when Mr Lee was president, there had been no receipts produced for  75 per cent of funds he spent during one of his  special diplomatic missions.
'In a diplomatic mission involving Japan, a civilian trusted by [Mr Lee] could even get NT$15 million without needing to produce receipts to account for the spending in promoting his diplomatic work,' Mr Chen said.
He said he 'absolutely had no doubt' about Mr Lee's integrity because a president had the obligation to promote Taiwan's diplomatic work - implying that prosecutors and others should, therefore, not question Mr Chen's own spending from the special state fund.
However, Mr Chen said the reason Mr Ma had spent more than he had received  through allowances was that Mr Ma had  donated NT$13.6 million to his two foundations during his last two months in office.
The donations were made shortly after Mr Ma was accused of embezzlement in August 2006, Mr Chen said.
He also claimed that Mr Ma had wired US$500,000 to his two daughters in the United States during his time as Taipei mayor. 'Did the money come from the special monthly allowances he saved in his account?' Mr Chen asked.
Mr Ma's spokesman, Wang Yu-chi,  said the courts had already cleared Mr Ma of all charges and that Mr Chen should face his judicial case in a more responsible manner.
Political analysts said Mr Chen was trying to turn the case into a political issue.
'He wants to create an impression that he is politically persecuted by the KMT,' said George Tsai Wei,  political science professor at Chinese Cultural University in Taipei.
Professor Tsai said by conveying the message that he was unfairly treated, Mr Chen was trying to rally support.
Mr Chen is the subject of a probe into money-laundering allegations that he and his wife wired at least US$21 million abroad during his time as president.



Chen cites fellow leaders in tussle with prosecutors