Political parties will now have to submit to regulation by the Control Yuan in what is being described as a major step forward in the fight against "black gold" politics with the passage of the Political Donations Law (
The law allows parties and politicians to receive donations, but forbids "quid pro quo" exchanges. Parties and politicians must also set up special accounts to receive donations and file reports detailing the amounts they have received to the Control Yuan.
Before the law was passed, the legislators voted on two articles that the caucuses could not agree on despite cross-party negotiations in late February.
One article, which forbids party-run businesses from making donations to politicians, passed without any reservations. The pan-blue camp had previously opposed the article.
The other article, which stipulated that a party cannot make donations totaling more than one-fourth of the maximum allowable campaign fund to any individual politician, was rejected under opposition from pan-blue legislators.
The approved regulations state that parties and politicians must open a special account to manage donations. Those who violate the regulations can be given a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment.
The law also states that politicians can only receive political donations during an election campaign period. Presidential and vice-presidential candidates can start to raise funds one year before the incumbents' term finishes, while legislative candidates can start fundraising 10 months before the end of their term. Mayoral, councilor, county commissioner and county councilor candidates can begin raising cash eight months prior to the end of the incumbent's term, and other civil officials of lower ranks may do so four months before the end of the term.
The law also sets ceilings for donations made by individuals, civic groups and enterprises. An individual cannot donate more than NT$300,000 to a single party or more than NT$600,000 to different parties; a civic group no more than NT$2 million to a single party or NT$4 million to different parties; and an enterprise can give no more than NT$3 million to a single party and no more than NT$6 million to various parties.
Further, the law says that an anonymous donation cannot exceed NT$10,000 and the total amount of anonymous donations may not exceed one-tenth of the total donations received. A donation exceeding NT$100,000 will have to be delivered via check or wire.
According to the law, if a candidate accepts funds from people or groups from China, Hong Kong or Macau, he or she will receive a maximum prison sentence of five years; if they do not open a special account to deal with the donations, they will be given a maximum sentence of three years; if candidates issue bonds to raise funds, they will receive a maximum sentence of three years.
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