In the wake of charges that the first lady has embezzled money from a secret Presidential Office fund, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
A group of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators accused Ma on Friday of embezzling NT$79,700 from the fund to pay for a physical examination and other expenses for his dog, Ma Hsiao-jeou (
The lawmakers' allegation is being investigated by Black Gold Investigation Bureau prosecutors.
Ma, who had previously denied embezzlement accusations on several occasions, admitted yesterday that money used to pay Ma Hsiao-jeou's bills came from the fund. He said he had already repaid the money.
"I adopted the dog during an event held by the city government," he said while attending the International Car-free Day event sponsored by the Taipei city and county governments. "I didn't know the adoption and examination fee was paid for by the fund."
Ma said he adopted the dog during a stray-dog-adoption event organized by the Taipei City Government in 1999. Ma Hsiao-jeou then stayed in the Taipei Municipal Institute for Animal Health for quarantine and physical examinations for a month before the mayor's wife took him home.
Ma said the bill for adoption and examination fees was sent to his office, and that the city's Budget, Accounting and Statistics Department drew money from the fund to pay the bill because the dog was adopted during a municipal event.
"I thought my wife paid for it, and didn't know the money was from the fund until recently ? Although the budget, accounting and statistics department said the procedure is legal, I was uneasy and paid the money back," he said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman insisted that his situation could not be compared with that of President Chen Shui-bian (
"I adopted the dog at a public welfare event, and so paying the fee with money from the fund is legal. Besides, I didn't take false receipts to seek reimbursement. My situation is not the same as President Chen," he said.
At a press conference called later in the day, Taipei City's Budget, Accounting and Statistics Department Commissioner Shih Shu-mei (
Taipei Information Department Commissioner Lo Chih-cheng (羅智成) reiterated that Ma had already reimbursed the city government.
"Also, the fee is not NT$79,700. Whoever came up with the number should have provided evidence when they made the accusations," he said at the Taipei City Hall.
Several DPP lawmakers have been raising questions about Ma's integrity since July. On Friday they urged Ma again to provide a detailed explanation of the issue.
Acknowledging that he should have "had a higher standard when dealing with the issue" and paid the fee out of his own pocket in the first place, Ma said the city government would make public the receipts soon, perhaps tomorrow.
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
Conflict with Taiwan could leave China with “massive economic disruption, catastrophic military losses, significant social unrest, and devastating sanctions,” a US think tank said in a report released on Monday. The German Marshall Fund released a report titled If China Attacks Taiwan: The Consequences for China of “Minor Conflict” and “Major War” Scenarios. The report details the “massive” economic, military, social and international costs to China in the event of a minor conflict or major war with Taiwan, estimating that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could sustain losses of more than half of its active-duty ground forces, including 100,000 troops. Understanding Chinese
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
RSS