A-bian's moneyman caught gambling in Korean casino

Politics Taiwan Politics
1

Where did TVBS get the photo of A-bian’s man gambling in a Korean casino?

  • Casino owners
  • PRC spies
  • A disgruntled Taiwanese prosecutor
  • A pro-blue staff member of ROC rep office in S Korea
  • Other

0 voters

Finally, Chen Shui-bian’s dark side is threatening to come out into the day light with TVBS revelation of a photo showing his alleged moneyman, former presidential office deputy secretary general Chen Che-nan, gambling in a casino alongside a shadowy businessman involved in the Kaohsiung MRT scandal. Both persons have admitted the photo was from their 2002 trip to Cheju in South Korea.

Now what’s fascinating about the photo is:

Where did TVBS get it from?

It was taken from a video surveillance camera in the casino. It happened in 2002. The casino is not likely to have kept the video records for so long. Apparently someone was following A-bian’s man in 2002, long before the Kaohsiung MRT scandal. That person also had enough clout to get the photo, as well as other proprietary information such as who paid for what, from the casino.

Who was it?

The ROC rep office in Seoul is said to have sent someone to welcome Chen Che-nan at the airport at the time, so the rep office apparently knew about the trip.

But would someone from the rep office have the ability to get that photo from the casino?

Seems like good material for a conspiracy theory.

2

TSU and DPP lawmakers are calling for TVBS’ 全民开讲 to be “shut down” because they claim the parent company is from Hong Kong so therefore it must be speaking for Beijing. Wow, DPP logic at work!

3

A request from a Taiwanese government agency - i.e., Police or Criminal - or a Taiwanese legal agency would be quite sufficient to obtain the imagery from the casino security office. Its done all of the time, all over the world.

4

Of course, it’s plain stupid and ugly for the DPP to make this kind of accusation now. These accusations have been floating around for some months. Why didn’t they take action if they were true? That’s a problem.

5

Awwww. Don’t spoil their fun. :laughing:

6

But could the casino have kept its video records from three years back? Unlikely. I believe someone got the photo from the casino back in 2002 or soon after. Why should Taiwanese police have followed A-Bian’s man in South Korea in 2002, long before any substantial accusation against him began to surface? Much less tried to get a photo casting a bad light on him? And yet not take any action until now?

Edit:

TVBS said they got it from a deep throat type of source, probably implying that it came from a prosecutor unhappy about the DPP powers that be trying to suppress this information.

That must mean the casino has all the records from three years back, and the Taiwanese prosecutors got the photo from the casino after the MRT scandal broke.

7

Not sure if this is true or not (and not trying to spread rumors…), but word on the street is that one of the main reasons Chen was in S. Korea was becuase one of the bank accounts to the Kaoshuing MRT kickback scam was in Korea. Interesting to see if this comes out in the next few days. To add fuel to the fire (DPP PR disaster): New revelations are that the cost of each mrt carriage in K-town costs $20 million more than the carriages in the Taipei mrt. People are wondering if some kickback is in the deal as well. Also, unrelated, but doesn’t help matters is that Chen Shui Bian’s son-in-law/daughter have been house hunting the past week or so, but only scoping out the most expensive flats in Taipei. Blues are wondering where they are getting the money from.

The only good thing about this whole mess is that Chen Chu, the ex-labor minister has gained alot of (additional) respect for her integrity. I heard she knew about this whole K-town/Thai Labor mess early on and tried her best to clear the DPP from the mess, but she was basically told to shut up. She quit instead of being associated with the criminals.

My girlfriend is blue supporter, so I hear all the shit. Funny this is she is a proud taiwanese, but does not understand one of the basic messages the KMT is sending out is they want to trash the locals and show they can’t manage anything professionally. (Micheal Turton had a good TT letter last week articulating this - does anyone have the link?)

One point of interest I would like to make is that does anyone else notice William Lai and a few other DPP leaders are never on TV talkshows? It seems the real talent is too busy doing the work will the idiots (PFP supporters/Cho Yen, etc.) are constantly blabing about some non-sense. Perhaps a good idea is for Taiwan to hold a referendum which contains a choice of the top 10 political troublemakers to be banned forever from running for public office so taiwan can progress.

8

But could the casino have kept its video records from three years back? Unlikely. I believe someone got the photo from the casino back in 2002 or soon after. Why should Taiwanese police have followed A-Bian’s man in South Korea in 2002, long before any substantial accusation against him began to surface? Much less tried to get a photo casting a bad light on him? And yet not take any action until now?[/quote]Levitator -
I have no ‘inside’ knowledge about this incident. But consider this…

  1. CSB has had his enemies since before he was elected Pres.
  2. Maybe it was Taiwanese Police - maybe it was some other group or maybe it was some other ‘connected individual.’
  3. Timing is everything. (along with distance - but thats another matter) If someone has been setting on this tape for 3 years, maybe they were just waiting for a) right time to release it b) the right $$$'s to release it c) the right combination of either or both to let someone else release it.

Who has CSB p*ssed-off lately? This could have come from a member (or former member) of his own camp who had this in their possesion for “safe keeping” all these years. And then ‘they’ decided to get some ‘pay-back’ on the CSB camp.
Maybe this is just one tape in a collection of embarrassing incident tapes that someone has been holding onto for their own CYA reasons - self-protection, as it were.

A lot of possibilities here. Intrique and politics go hand-n-hand…or hand-n-pocket… :sunglasses:

9

I’ve also seen reports about a huge money transfer from Thailand to the company of a contractor in the MRT project, the very man seen next to A-bian’s man in the photo.

Where will the money trail lead to?

That’s also my concern. I wouldn’t be surprised if any DPP figure turns out be just as corrupt as their KMT predecessors. It would be a good thing to expose their corruption.

But, apart from their equally dirty (if not dirtier) record, the blues have shown every tendency to mess up Taiwan’s already messy government structure and kiss up to Beijing as well. They have rarely shown any commitment to building a reasonable government system. (At least some people in the DPP have.) The recent NCC law pushed through by the blues is a good example of a legislative disaster. The way it is designed now, the NCC is very likely to be plagued with fistfights and/or political impasse just like the legislature.

I hope my fears are unfounded.

Here’s the link to Michael Turton’s letter.

William Lai is a caucus whip. It’s a very busy job.

The DPP also has its share of idiots, including quite a few lawmakers. But there are a few lawmakers in the DPP that I still admire, like Lee Wen-chung (so far heard no dirt about him yet).

10

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]Levitator -
I have no ‘inside’ knowledge about this incident. But consider this…

  1. CSB has had his enemies since before he was elected Pres.
  2. Maybe it was Taiwanese Police - maybe it was some other group or maybe it was some other ‘connected individual.’
  3. Timing is everything. (along with distance - but thats another matter) If someone has been setting on this tape for 3 years, maybe they were just waiting for a) right time to release it b) the right $$$'s to release it c) the right combination of either or both to let someone else release it.

Who has CSB p*ssed-off lately? This could have come from a member (or former member) of his own camp who had this in their possesion for “safe keeping” all these years. And then ‘they’ decided to get some ‘pay-back’ on the CSB camp.
Maybe this is just one tape in a collection of embarrassing incident tapes that someone has been holding onto for their own CYA reasons - self-protection, as it were.

A lot of possibilities here. Intrique and politics go hand-n-hand…or hand-n-pocket… :sunglasses:[/quote]

Tainancowboy,

I think your theory is even better than mine. Classic. :slight_smile:

11

My crystal ball says -
KMT will sweep upcoming elections.
Ma will lead the hand-over of Taiwan to Red China.
Little will change and Taiwan will go the way of Hong Kong.
Small defection of Taiwanese Air Force pilots to Okinanwa and Thailand.
Taiwan Taxi drivers lead rebel anti-communist groups.
Blue truck drivers become mercenary’s for whoever will pay them.
Taiwan Beer will become a favored beverage in Red China.
The internet in Taiwan will be censored as in Red China.
Night markets will become political hot-spots.
Stinky tofu will be outlaws by communist cadres.
Amahs will become renowned as “Freedom Fighters.”

All predictions subject to change.

12

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]My crystal ball says -
KMT will sweep upcoming elections.
Ma will lead the hand-over of Taiwan to Red China.
Little will change and Taiwan will go the way of Hong Kong.
Small defection of Taiwanese Air Force pilots to Okinanwa and Thailand.
Taiwan Taxi drivers lead rebel anti-communist groups.
Blue truck drivers become mercenary’s for whoever will pay them.
Taiwan Beer will become a favored beverage in Red China.
The internet in Taiwan will be censored as in Red China.
Night markets will become political hot-spots.
Stinky tofu will be outlaws by communist cadres.
Amahs will become renowned as “Freedom Fighters.”

All predictions subject to change.[/quote]

What a coincidence. My zodiac chart for Taiwan also says pretty much the same. What’s that Chinese saying, wise people always see the same thing? :sunglasses:

I can put up with the political chaos and stuff. Information censorship will be the last straw that makes me say goodbye to Taiwan.

13

I don’t know what the surprise is all about. It is pretty common knowledge the DPP don’t have the experience to pull off anything without serious set backs. Even a simple graft is fudged up.

14

On TV last night they listed three ways a casino can be used to launder money. Unfortunately it all went a bit too quickly for my sluggish brain to keep up. Could anyone fill us in on the details?

…
Money laundering in casinos
Integration techniques of money laundering
Detecting theft, embezzlement, counterfeiting and money laundering

[quote]Money laundering is the movement of currency that has been obtained illegally through accounts and businesses in an effort to disguise its source and make it available for legitimate use. The easiest way to launder money is to go to a casino and buy a bunch of chips which, after an acceptable level of loss at gambling, are later turned in for “clean” money. In some cases, traveler’s checks or postal orders are used instead of casino chips. The most common way money is laundered, however, is through the purchase of expensive, but returnable items (houses, cars, furs, diamonds) or the giving of cash to family and friends to purchase such items, investment the money, or as a loan with payback. Laundering also sometimes involves moving cash through various bank accounts, paper corporations, and safe deposit boxes. Money laundering is typically detected by computerized Treasury Dept. programs that monitor bank transactions over a certain amount, although it is possible to detect it individually through the analysis of Net Worth Statements. Investigators also frequently use an analytical technique known as Commodity Flow Analysis, which charts the legitimate and illegitimate parts of money laundering activity. The money laundering cycle as it typically occurs has four parts:

[ul]Illicit activity – money is raised from narcotics, fraud, extortion, loansharking, pornography, etc.

Placement – money is put in banks, commodities, or purchases

Layering – money is wire transferred or converted into another monetary instrument, and put again into banks, commodities, or purchases

Integration – money is made to look like regular income or revenue [/ul][/quote]

15

Converting dirty cash into chips and back to cash is a covert way of laundering money these days?

16

It’s not new. North Korea uses it to launder their own counterfeit US bills. You can use the counterfeits as a gambler, convert it to chips then back to cash; or you can do it from the casino end, paying out winnings in dirty cash while taking in clean cash when folks buy chips.

17

I think there is a quote from the movie “OFFICE SPACE” that is approptiateto this part of the thread…something about looking up ‘money laundering’ in the dictionary…?

18

Low level drug dealers in use this method to launder money in the USA. You take the drug money or the money marked by cops, go to a casino, play for a few hours, change the chips back to “clean” money.

But to accuse a high level offical of using this same method. I think is somewhat a stretch. Either Chen is just really stupid, or just doesn’t really know of more creative ways to launder money.

19

4nr wrote

This is the kind of fuzzy thinking about these problems common among the Pan-Blue man or woman on the street.

Why on Earth would this surprise anyone? Are the Chen’s poor? Before he became a noted political leader CSB was Taiwan’s leading maritime lawyer. His wife’s family has a long history of wealth and power in the Taiwan business community. There’s only about a million biographies of her on the Net, but take a look at this one,
maillist.gio.gov.tw/freedom2/schen/schen.html

The DPP is a real disappointment. They have ended up just as baddly corrupted as the KMT ever was. But all of this really shows the poverty of Pan-Blue reasoning. James Soong’s son has a bank account filled with KMT money, but everytime the Chen’s son buys a new car the cry goes up, “Where did they get the money? Where did they get the money?”

20

That’s because the pan-Blue don’t campaign on “anti-corruption” platform.

So who is the less trustworthy party. The one the makes empty promises or the one that tries to make good on thier party platform. Pan Blue show every intention of trying to engage the PRC in cross strait relationship, which is their campaign promise.