Yeh Sheng-mao, Traitor to the Bureau of Investigation

Yeh Sheng-mao, Traitor to the Bureau of Investigation
United Daily News editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
August 20, 2008

Chen Shui-bian's family has engaged in money-laundering. Late last year their activities were exposed by an international anti-money laundering organization. Foreign prosecutors repeatedly asked our government to assist their investigation. To everyones' surprise, they were repeatedly blocked by our executive branch. Most contemptible of all, Bureau of Investigation Chief Yeh Sheng-mao buried the case for seven months, forfeiting the opportunity to strike while the iron was hot.

Late last year the Egmont Group, an international money-laundering prevention and control organization, discovered that First Daughter-in-Law Huang Jui-ching's account exhibited an abnormal number of large transactions. The group noticed that these huge sums were not commensurate with Huang Jui-ching and her husband's income. On January 28, Cayman Islands prosecutors informed the ROC Bureau of Investigation Money Laundering Prevention Center, asking for its assistance in their investigation. When the Money Laundering Prevention Center informed the Prosecutor General's Office, Bureau of Investigation Chief Yeh Sheng-mao cited "issues of sensitivity" as an excuse to personally pass the case on to Attorney General Chen Tsung-ming. As expected, nothing was heard of the case after that. As a result of the change in ruling parties in May, Swiss prosecutors made the connection between the case and Chen Shui-bian, and notified our Ministry of Foreign Affairs twice over the past six to seven months. Otherwise, Yeh Sheng-mao would have covered the crime up completely, dropping it forever down the memory hole, leaving nary a trace.

Whether Yeh Sheng-mao or Chen Tsung-ming were derelict in their duties will have to await the Ministry of Justice's final report. Based on the two officials' rhetoric however, Chen Tsung-ming's role needs further clarification, while Yeh Sheng-mao's crime of concealing public documents is all too clear. One. Yeh Sheng-mao removed documents that the Money Laundering Prevention Center issued to prosecutors. He neither turned them over to Chen Tsung-ming, nor returned them. This already qualifies as a cover up. Two. Chou Yu-yi, the Director of the Money Laundering Prevention Center, asked Yeh Sheng-mao whether he had turned the documents over to Chen Tsung-ming, twice. But Yeh was never able to show Chou a signed receipt for the documents. Obviously Yeh was lying. Three. Yeh Sheng-mao repeatedly changed his story. First he said that Chen Tsung-ming submitted a document. Later he said Chen merely made an oral report. Still later he said the case was on hold due to the election. Finally he said the reason he hadn't taken any action on the case whatsoever was that he was "busy planning his retirement."

Yeh Sheng-mao repeatedly changed his story, contradicting himself. But he was unable to disguise the fact that he covered up a crime. This was not merely a case of misprision of felony. On the one hand he concealed evidence from prosecutors. On the other hand he fabricated lies to mislead the Money Laundering Prevention Center, hoping they would shelve the case. This constitutes a serious dereliction of duty. If Yeh Sheng-mao is guilty of misprision of felony, and also of informing Chen Shui-bian about the matter, helping him plan his escape, destroying relevant evidence, then he is also guilty of violating civil service laws against leaking secrets and destroying evidence. No matter what, Yeh Sheng-mao, as Chief of the Bureau of Investigation, abused his authority covering up crimes. He kept the judiciary in the dark for seven months. He sat on his hands and refused to investigate the case. He betrayed the nation's system of justice. Everyone should denounce him.

Chen Shui-bian ruled for eight years. He reduced a civil service system that ought to have remained politically neutral, into a chameleon that changes its colors with the political winds. Yeh Sheng-mao's outrages against justice, are merely the tip of the iceberg. In recent years, such outrages have proliferated, including the Sogo Gift Certificates case and the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit case. Bureau of Investigation officers are suspected of tipping off politicians, and even tutoring them on how to evade prosecution. Yeh Sheng-mao himself is suspected of leaking information to Green Camp bigwigs in the Hualien Gravel scandal and other scandals. When the Chief of the Bureau of Investigation, who stands on the frontlines of the judicial process, engages in such conduct, it's no wonder Liu Kuan-ping, ROC Representative to Switzerland, had the chutzpah to withhold documents provided by Swiss prosecutors from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Did Chen Tsung-ming ever received an oral report of the case from Yeh Sheng-mao? Did he refuse to accept the case because it was a hot potato? Further investigation is required. The Money Laundering Prevention Center created a case file and filed official documents. Did Yeh Sheng-mao apply pressure from above to prevent further action? Were civil servants passive and fearful of controversy? Did they adopt a self-imposed, wait-and-see attitude? All these possibilities should be investigated. Especially since the case involves the heads of both the Bureau of Investigation and the Special Investigative Unit. The Special Investigative Unit must recuse itself and be replaced by other investigative bodies.

Foreign judiciaries are working together to track down transnational crimes. Our executive and judiciary, meanwhile, have been diligently sheltering criminals, and burying other nations' case files. How despicable. How shameful. How pathetic. Chen Shui-bian enriched himself by laundering money. He shamed Taiwan. He paralyzed prosecutors and investigators. Yeh Sheng-mao was his hatchetman, his accomplice, and a traitor to our entire justice system.

Yeh Sheng-mao knew the law and broke the law. The Ministry of Justice must not show him one iota of mercy. Yeh Sheng-mao covered up crimes. He deliberately wasted seven critical months of time. Prosecutors and investigators must work together to uncover the truth behind the money laundering case. Only the truth can purge our justice system of this unprecedented black mark against its honor.

司法叛徒葉盛茂 還我七個月來！
【聯合報╱社論】
2008.08.20 03:17 am

陳水扁家族洗錢，去年底即經國際反洗錢組織查出；沒想到外國檢方三番兩次請求我國協查，卻一再遭到此間行政體系阻擱。最令人痛恨的是，調查局長葉盛茂竟然「吃案」，平白斷送了七個月的黃金追查時間。

國際洗錢防制組織「艾格蒙」聯盟，去年底即發現黃睿靚帳戶鉅額存款的異常流動，認為此巨款與黃睿靚夫婦之所得顯不相稱，於今年一月廿八日透過開曼群島檢方通報我調查局洗錢防制中心，要求協查。洗錢防制中心發文給最高檢察署時，局長葉盛茂以該案「事涉敏感」為由，表示要親攜公文「面交」檢察總長陳聰明，詎料此後即告無聲無息。若非五月政黨輪替，瑞士檢方又接續查出此案與陳水扁的關聯，並於六、七月兩度來函我外交部；否則，此案可能已被葉盛茂吃乾抹淨，永遠消失在他的無影手中。

葉盛茂與陳聰明誰該負失職責任，仍有待法務部最後的調查；但比對各方說詞，陳聰明的角色如何尚待釐清，但葉盛茂隱匿公文的罪嫌已是昭然若揭。第一，葉盛茂帶走洗錢中心發給檢方的公文，卻未交給陳聰明，亦未將公文返還，這已構成吃案。第二，洗錢中心主任周有義兩度追問，葉盛茂均稱公文已交給陳聰明，卻始終未能拿出公文簽收回條，顯係說謊。第三，葉盛茂不斷改口，先說向陳聰明遞交了公文，又改說只是「口頭報告」；後又說因「適逢大選」而暫擱此案，然後因自己「忙於退休」而未進一步處理。

葉盛茂說詞反覆矛盾，已掩飾不住他「吃案」的事實；深一層看，這又不只是單純的「隱匿公文書」而已。因為，他一邊向檢方隱匿情資，一邊又虛構事實誤導洗錢防制中心擱置此案，這已是嚴重的「瀆職」。再進一步看，若葉盛茂隱匿了公文，又向陳水扁通報此事，使其從容部署退路、湮滅相關跡證，那就更觸犯了公務人員「洩密」及「湮滅證據」罪。無論如何，葉盛茂以調查局長身分隻手遮天，讓司法機構蒙在鼓裡七個月，坐失追查罪證先機，真是國家司法的大叛徒，人人得鳴鼓攻之。

陳水扁執政八年，讓原應恪守行政中立的公務體系變成觀政治風向辦事的「變色龍」；葉盛茂偷天換日，只是冰山一角。近年諸多紛擾案件，諸如ＳＯＧＯ禮券案、高捷案，都傳出調查局探員向涉案政客通風報信，甚至提供「教戰守則」，葉盛茂本人亦在花蓮砂石弊案等案件中涉嫌向綠營權貴洩密。站在司法最前線的調查局長都傾斜至此，也就難怪連駐瑞士代表劉寬平延宕瑞士檢方公文，外交部都還不以為忤了。

陳聰明是否從未聽取葉盛茂對此案的口頭報告，或者他是否因案件棘手而拒絕收受該案，仍需追個水落石出。包括洗錢防制中心，立案發出公文後究竟是葉盛茂壓制其追查行動，或者他們因公務員的消極、怕事、觀望而自我設限，也都應該一併調查。尤其，此事牽扯調查局和特偵組兩首腦的責任，特偵組應該迴避，改由其他單位主持調查。

國外司法體系正在合作追查跨國犯罪行動，而我們的行政及司法體系卻有人在拚命掩護不法、掩蓋他國查出的情資，這是多麼可鄙、可恥又復可悲的事！這樁洗錢案，陳水扁肥了自己，羞辱了台灣，癱瘓了檢調；葉盛茂則是他的鷹犬、共犯，更是全體司法人員的叛徒。

對於葉盛茂的知法犯法，法務部絕不能稍假寬貸。葉盛茂吃了案子，也吃掉七個月黃金偵辦時機；檢調必須合力將洗錢案辦出個結果來，才能共同洗刷這個司法界空前的奇恥大辱。