“I am confident there is no special graft, nothing to do with Taiwan,” Vogel said. “[Akiyama] was strictly somebody who was promoting basic research. All Kelly was doing was to allow him to do that research.”

Stacy Akiyama, president of Yamada International Corporation (no relation to Masahiro Akiyama), said his company exports American-made defense products to Japan and sponsored Masahiro Akiyama at Harvard for that reason.

The Strait Times of Singapore reported Akiyama’s alleged connections to Taiwan last week as part of a series of allegations recently levelled in Taiwan against the previous administration of President Lee Teng-hui, who is accused of using public funds to buy off foreign diplomats and other influential people to lobby for Taiwanese interests in the U.S.

Taiwan, recognized by only 29 countries and thus denied most normal diplomatic channels, has been accused of giving large amounts of aid to developing countries in exchange for diplomatic recognition.

The Strait Times of Singapore could not be reached for comment.

The Sing Tao Daily also alleged that an unnamed U.S. ambassador had acted from 1997 to 1999 as a go-between for Hashimoto and Akiyama to receive money from Taiwan.

Akiyama said he had not known Kelly—now a high-ranking member of the U.S. Department of State—before receiving Kelly’s help in funding his fellowship.

The Sing Tao Daily did not reveal the sources for their allegations.