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Monday July 21, 5:53 PMTaiwan's ex-president rejects defamation charges
Chen, who retired in May after eight years in power, has been sued by five retired military officers for saying they had taken 20 million US dollars in kickbacks in connection with a controversial deal to buy frigates from France. The former president, a lawyer by training, is representing himself in the suit, which marks the first time a former leader has been subpoenaed as a defendant in a legal case. "We were sued simply after we made reasonable comments on the kickback scandal which has been under investigation. Is there still justice?" Chen told reporters following a three-hour hearing. Outside Taipei District Court, a dozen Chen supporters shouted "Go, Go A-bian" while a similar number of opponents demanded that he be punished. One man was arrested after allegedly kicking Chen in the rear end as he entered the courthouse, local television footage showed. Chen is still hated by many who disagreed with his pro-independence policies and who believe he was involved in several corruption scandals that have plagued his family. Chen is now facing a corruption probe and his wife is on trial for graft. The defamation case against Chen stems from a 1991 deal struck by Taiwan to buy six French-made Frigates built by Thomson-CSF for 2.8 billion US dollars -- a deal that strained French ties with China at the time. Allegations of kickbacks emerged after the body of a Taiwanese naval captain who ran the acquisitions office was found floating in the sea in 1993. A French judicial probe opened in 2001 to investigate claims that much of the money paid by Taiwan went towards commissions to middlemen, politicians and military officers in Taiwan, China and France. An investigation the same year by Taiwan's highest anti-graft body concluded that as much as 400 million US dollars in kickbacks might have been paid throughout the course of the deal. So far 13 military officers and 15 arms brokers have been jailed in Taiwan on charges of bribery and leaking military secrets in connection with the case. No one has been charged over the naval captain's death. |
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