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Mar 9, 2009

Confirmed...

I have confirmed that this information is in fact on the prosecutors' tapes:

Yesterday Chen's office released the testimony of Koo from November 4th... Prosecutor Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮) said to Koo: "How about we first chat about some details of the case, I want to understand first and then I will tell you what other [witnesses] have said, and then we can [compare and decide] whether or not the testimony is correct."

Chen's office said this shows the special prosecutor was obviously attempting to lead the witness, and that later, Chu also said: "The amount of 400million is something you ought to say. You think about it, because it has already been a long time [since this happened]. At least we are sure that this is what you said to [Taiwan Cement Group (台泥) chairman] Leslie Koo (辜成允), this is [the amount] you mentioned to Leslie Koo."
Most damning of all?
Prosecutor Wu Wenchung (吳文忠): [responding to a question from Koo] "Yes, otherwise it will be exhausting later. If we can, we'd like to finish [your testimony] today."
Prosecutor Chu: "Take your time thinking about it."
Jefferey Koo: "I understand what you mean. I need to at least help, I must avoid being more of a hindrance than a help."
Chu: "You must avoid being more of a hindrance than a help, [otherwise] [the case] will be wrecked."
The prosecutors argue that immediately after that dozy of a line, Chu said "But of course you should tell the truth." But I think the implications are obvious.

Again: Chen & his wife are clearly guilty of tax evasion, and very likely took some very large "political donations" and returned favors, which pretty much constitutes the definition of a bribe even though it may be hard to prove legally.

But that in no way makes the highly personal, politically-tinted prosecution of Chen any more comforting.

1 comment:

Tommy said...

"But that in no way makes the highly personal, politically-tinted prosecution of Chen any more comforting."

Then again, it doesn't have to. So many people (I'm not referring to you) really can't tell the difference between opposing this case out of love for Chen and opposing the case because of the unfair nature of the trial and the political retribution behind it. Chen should pay the price for what he did, but he shouldn't pay a higher price than he has to only because the KMT finds him particularly odious.