Acting Kaohsiung Mayor Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) announced the establishment of a "Kaohsiung MRT Investigation Team" yesterday to look into the controversies surrounding the massive construction project.
She said the five-person team, made up of legal and construction experts, would conduct its probe into alleged conflicts of interest impartially and selflessly and will release its findings in two weeks.
"The investigation will be conducted without any limitations. All related personnel, be they former mayors or government officials and the MRT company itself, will be objects of our inquiry," Yeh said.
OCT. 20 DEADLINE
The mayor said the team would present its report to the public on Oct. 20.
However, she did not say whether the report would be sent to the Presidential Office or the Executive Yuan for review.
When asked if the investigation team will include Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), a former Kaohsiung mayor, as one of its objects of inquiry, Yeh said the city government was determined to resolve the controversy.
She also said the team's probe would not interfere with any judicial investigation.
"There will not be any premises in the investigation ... We will reveal the truth and clarify all the confusion," she said.
MA HAS DOUBTS
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
"There will be some limitations and forbidden areas in an administrative investigation. Especially since former Kaohsiung mayor Hsieh is new premier, the investigation team must have some scruples," he said.
Ma said only prosecutors and the courts can exercise the right to take disciplinary action, detain suspects or issue restraint orders, and therefore could investigate cases more thoroughly.
"I am not against an administrative investigation. But I think the judiciary should do the major investigation," he said.
He said the government should support a full judicial probe, so that the truth could be fully told.
PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE
Meanwhile, the Presidential Office has denied a report in a Chinese-language newspaper that the investigation team was established under orders from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun said he had not heard the president give any such order.
He said Chen fully supported getting to the truth of the matter as soon as possible.
Yu also rebutted speculation that the team's creation pointed to a lack of confidence in Hsieh.
"The investigation team has nothing to do with believing Premier Hsieh or not. Only by making the truth clear can all the rumors be put to rest," she said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
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