TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan's defense minister apologized on Tuesday after a top Apache helicopter pilot sparked a scandal by giving friends and family an illegal tour of an army base, prompting an investigation into military discipline.
Lt. Col. Lao Nai-cheng brought a group of 26 civilians — most of them his wealthy relatives and friends — to the northern Lungtan base late last month.
President Ma Ying-jeou ordered a thorough review of military discipline Monday in the wake of the chopper scandal.
"As a minister, I would like to voice profound apologies to my countrymen," Defense Minister Kao Kuang-chi said Tuesday.
"A cover-up will by no means be tolerated ... the mentality of privilege must be thoroughly destroyed," a grim-faced Kao said.
When asked if he would offer his resignation, Kao said: "As a political affairs minister, I will take due responsibility."
The incident sparked a public outcry over the group's access to a restricted military base.
The visitors toured an off-limits hangar and climbed into the helicopter cockpit to pose for photos, according to local media.
The case came to light when photos — showing a woman sitting smiling in the cockpit and her husband wearing a pilot's helmet — were seen on her Facebook page.
Internet searches by local media also found a photo of Lao wearing his Apache pilot's helmet at a Halloween party last year.
It is the latest in a series of military scandals.
In another case an army commander at Tungying, a Taiwan-administered frontline islet facing China's Fujian province, was removed from his post and placed under investigation last week following complaints by lower-ranking soldiers of sexual abuse.
Video footage also emerged in the past week showing soldiers apparently drunk and dancing at another military base. That case is under investigation.
Legislator Lee Ching-hua of the ruling Kuomintang party said the Apache case had "shaken the pillars of the military and the country."
Apache pilot Lao was on Tuesday given a second serious demerit for the illegal tour, which is likely to cost him his career.
The chief of the brigade at Lungtan was also removed from his post, the defense ministry said, with 16 officers also disciplined over the incident.
Prosecutors in the northern city of Taoyuan launched an investigation into the case over the weekend.
