Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers accused the Taipei City Government yesterday of fabricating stories to obfuscate any evidence of embezzlement from Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (
Ma on Wednesday said that his office's mishandling of the special mayoral allowance had been the result of an "administrative defect" brought about by Taipei City Government staffer Yu Wen (
Ma said that he had not been aware of Yu's substitutions.
"We have received information that Sun Chen-ni (孫振妮), a secretary in Ma's office, has admitted to prosecutors that she helped Yu to collect false receipts for reimbursement," DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) told a press conference.
DPP Legislator Hsieh Hsin-ni (
"The staffer said he had decided to reveal the information to me because he was uphappy that Ma was not taking responsibility for the irregularities," Hsieh said at a separate press conference, without identifying the informant.
Director of the mayor's office Cheng An-kuo (鄭安國), who resigned on Wednesday, said that 3,758 original receipts amounting to NT$1,410,898 (US$43,000) had been replaced, and that Yu's receipts added up to between NT$800,000 and NT$900,000, suggesting there was no room for embezzlement.
Cheng said that a backup fund had been created to cover any deficit in Ma's special mayoral allowance, and that Yu had claimed reimbursements against this fund.
DPP lawmakers said that they did not find the inconsistencies in the city government's explanations surprising at all.
That Yu substituted receipts to reduce his paperwork is a lie, Kuan said.
"Before Yu was transferred to another post [in June], he had been handling the reimbursement for 882 days. Was he really so busy that he couldn't deal with an average of four [original] receipts per day?" Kuan asked.
Kuan questioned whether Cheng had fabricated a story about the backup fund to explain away inconsistencies and confuse prosecutors.
DPP lawmakers also called into question Cheng's statement that "Ma's mayoral allowance fund was used for public affairs and public welfare, including red envelopes for newlyweds and white envelopes for funerals."
"According to a document from the Ministry of Audit, the Taipei City Government has earmarked NT$1.8 million annually for this purpose. Why did they need extra money from Ma's mayoral allowance fund for this purpose?" Hsieh asked.
Taipei City Government Secretariat Director Lee Sush-der's (李述德) statement that half of Ma's monthly mayoral allocation of NT$80,000 had been used to reward his staff was also questionable, the lawmakers added.
"In 2001 and 2002, more than 90 percent of Ma's special allowance fund was used to reward his staff members. It's unusual. Even more unusual is that this percentage dropped sharply from 2003, when Yu started handling the reimbursement," Kuan said.
In response, Lee later yesterday said the allocation of NT$1.8 million had not been enough to cover all contributions to weddings and funerals, and so part of the fund was used to pay for these expenses.
In response to the DPP's accusation that the backup fund did not exist, Lee said that part of the fund came from the mayor, who received the money as a reward from the central government for the city government's handling of traffic violations.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday urged the public not to judge Ma until a verdict has been rendered.
"Only judges are authorized to decide whether Mayor Ma is guilty or not. We should respect everybody, especially since Ma has not been convicted of anything," Su said when approached by the media for comment.
"People make mistakes. It does not matter whether you are pan-blue or pan-green," he said.
also see story:
KMT's Ko recants anti-Ma comments
MISINFORMATION: The generated content tends to adopt China’s official stance, such as ‘Taiwan is currently governed by the Chinese central government,’ the NSB said Five China-developed artificial intelligence (AI) language models exhibit cybersecurity risks and content biases, an inspection conducted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The five AI tools are: DeepSeek, Doubao (豆包), Yiyan (文心一言), Tongyi (通義千問) and Yuanbao (騰訊元寶), the bureau said, advising people to remain vigilant to protect personal data privacy and corporate business secrets. The NSB said it, in accordance with the National Intelligence Services Act (國家情報工作法), has reviewed international cybersecurity reports and intelligence, and coordinated with the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau and the National Police Agency’s Criminal Investigation Bureau to conduct an inspection of China-made AI language
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
‘TROUBLEMAKER’: Most countries believe that it is China — rather than Taiwan — that is undermining regional peace and stability with its coercive tactics, the president said China should restrain itself and refrain from being a troublemaker that sabotages peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday. Lai made the remarks after China Coast Guard vessels sailed into disputed waters off the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan — following a remark Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made regarding Taiwan. Takaichi during a parliamentary session on Nov. 7 said that a “Taiwan contingency” involving a Chinese naval blockade could qualify as a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, and trigger Tokyo’s deployment of its military for defense. Asked about the escalating tensions
DISPUTE: A Chinese official prompted a formal protest from Tokyo by saying that ‘the dirty head that sticks itself out must be cut off,’ after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks Four armed China Coast Guard vessels yesterday morning sailed through disputed waters controlled by Japan, amid a diplomatic spat following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan. The four ships sailed around the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) to Taiwan, and which Taiwan and China also claim — on Saturday before entering Japanese waters yesterday and left, the Japan Coast Guard said. The China Coast Guard said in a statement that it carried out a “rights enforcement patrol” through the waters and that it was a lawful operation. As of the end of last month,
RSS