Former KMT legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) made her first court appearance yesterday at Taipei District Court on charges that she defrauded the government of more than NT$100 million (US$3 million) in wages and benefits.
Lee admitted for the first time to possessing dual-citizenship from the US but pleaded not guilty to the charges of fraud and forgery.Interesting is that in May 2009, it was suspected that Diane Lee had committed fraud and theft of US$3, yet at the same time former President Chen, who was also suspected of theft of the same amount, had already spent 160 days in preventative detention. Diane Lee has yet to serve one hour in detention.
In September 2009 (just 1 month ago) Lee's laywer Lee Yung-ran (李永然) had this to say:
Lee Yung-ran, told reporters that his client could not accept the indictment ...Clearly then it turns out that it was acceptable to her, in her position, to commit fraud and forgery for deliberately concealing dual-citizenship whilst holding office. Here's a rough time line of the case:
“She served as an elected representative and participated in the legislature for 14 years. This would be unacceptable for anyone in her position,” Lee Yung-ran told a press conference.
1. Diane Lee accused of holding dual citizenship. Lee scoffs at the suggestion and says she can find the documents to prove sh no longer has US citizenship.
2. US Immigration fails to provide a clear answer on Diane Lee's citizenship provoking further speculation that she may be holding US citizenship.
3. Diane Lee insists again that she is innocent.
4. US Immigration confirms Diane Lee's citizenship.
5. Legislature refuses to eject Lee but public pressure mounts.
6. Lee resigns from the Legislature allowing her to avoid being ejected on the grounds of holding dual-citizenship. CEC revokes her election results (but not the legislative results of votes she participated in). Lee's official record remains that she resigned and was not stripped of her seat for committing a felony.
7. Lee goes into effective hiding whilst preparing her case. She still denies all charges calling them 'unacceptable'.
8. Lee admits in court that she has dual-nationality.
The future? - Lee gets a fine (a % of her income as legislator) and bail but no time in detention (that would be too much for the Lee family to bear). Applies for compassionate leave to travel to US to visit her family. Leaves Taiwan but fails to return on time or pay most of her fines. KMT now not sure whether to still push for an extradition treaty with the US since once signed it is likely to be used to ask for the return of Lee and other business/KMT fugitives and not just those friends of Chen the SIP wants to question. Lee claims an atmosphere of persecution and political witch hunts in Taiwan and refuses to return until 'conditions are sufficient to guarantee her just treatment'. *sigh*
Since one cannot commit slander if the slandered have already admitted to the accusations of the slanderer, I think that it can now safely be said that Diane Lee has gone down in history as a liar and a thief. We have yet to see if we can add the adjectives 'humbled', 'contrite' and 'chastened' to that description.
