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KMT vote-buying alleged

A cyclist passes a KMT campaign van in Taipei yesterday. The poster features US Secretary of State Colin Powell shaking hands with KMT legislative candidate John Chang, a grandson of former KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek. PHOTO: REUTERS

The KMT may have spent as much as NT$2.2 billion to buy votes in tomorrow's elections, prosecutors at the Taiwan High Court alleged yesterday.

According to investigators, an informant identifying herself only as "a female KMT comrade" called the court's Black Gold Investigation Center on Wednesday.

The informant said the KMT had purchased a large number of cashier's checks from the Bank of Taiwan, which the party was planning to use to buy votes.

Prosecutors suspect the KMT had budgeted NT$5.2 billion for election-related spending on "candidates, candidates' relatives and vote captains." They believe NT$2.2 billion may have been spent on "vote-buying related activities," as financial records fail to show how the money was distributed.

Lin Fong-cheng (林豐正), KMT secretary-general, denied that the party was involved in any form of vote-buying.

Lin also questioned the DPP government's motives and the timing of the news, which came just three days before the elections.

"To investigate vote-buying is perfectly legitimate," he said. "But it's not fair for them to investigate the KMT only. The DPP, for example, has organized a lot of big indoor and outdoor campaign rallies. Where did their money come from? Where did their money go? Why hasn't anybody questioned this?"

KMT spokesman Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) characterized the allegations as "ridiculous."

"First of all, I must say that it is perfectly normal for a political party to spend money to assist with its candidates' campaigns," Wang said.

"As for vote-buying, the KMT has always been one of the biggest supporters of anti-vote-buying efforts. Everybody knows that. How could a political party like this be involved in bribery?"

Wang also invited investigators to inspect the KMT's accounts held by Bank Sinopac, Ta Chong Bank and Pan Asia Bank.

"They have all the records of all the party's income and outflows. Investigators will be more than welcome to do any necessary research to see whether the KMT is buying votes."

The Bank of Taiwan said it would cooperate with any investigation.

"We will provide any information that investigators need," Lee Sheng-yen (李勝彥), the bank's general manager, said. "We have not, however, observed any irregularities in the KMT's purchase of the cashier's checks."

Shih Liang-po (施良波), spokesman for the Black Gold Investigation Center, denied that investigators were influenced by political considerations.

"We have done everything in accordance with required procedure," Shih said.

"Our end goal, again, is to stamp out bribery from our elections. We have not sought to single anybody out. Our investigators are just doing their jobs. That's all."

Since the government's anti-vote-buying efforts began, the Ministry of Justice has received reports of more than 2,000 alleged irregularities, leading to 15 vote-buying cases.

The ministry has also dispatched prosecutors to watch for suspicious transfers of money to 100 banks nationwide, especially credit unions commonly used for providing cash for vote buying.
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