Questions raised about KMT's seat-swap plan

The Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) plan to replace one of its legislators-at-large with a China-based Taiwanese businessman has raised questions about a possible payoff.

KMT Legislator Joanna Lei (雷倩) said yesterday she had been told the party had asked Legislator Huang Teh-fu (黃德福) to resign before it persuaded Legislator Tsao Shou-min (曹壽民) to give up his seat. She said the KMT had offered Huang NT$10 million (US$305,300) to give up his seat.

She said the party wanted a seat for Huang Liang-hua (黃良華), the former head of an association for Taiwanese with investments in China, in order to win votes from China-based businesspeople.

Lei said she had no idea how much money was exchanged in the deal and who got what, but she did know there had been "some give-and-take involved." She did not elaborate.

Both Huang Teh-fu and Tsao were unavailable for comment yesterday.

KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yi (吳敦義) demanded Lei provide specifics to back up her allegations, saying: "You can't just make groundless accusations to damage the party."

He said many China-based businesspeople wanted their voices to be heard in the legislature, but that "no legislators-at-large were asked to sell their seats for NT$10 million."

Wu said Legislator Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤), a KMT vice chairman, was willing to give up his at-large seat, but the party rejected his offer because of "his solid reputation."

Tsao wanted to resign because his temporary leave of absence from National Taiwan University was about to expire, Wu said.

Chiang said yesterday that it had been his idea to make Huang Liang-hua a legislator-at-large and the substitution was an answer to a long-time plea by China-based businesspeople for a lawmaker to represent them.

"I planned to quit, but Tsao wanted to join [KMT presidential candidate] Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) campaign and return to academia, so he resigned," Chiang said.

He said KMT Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) had been informed of the seat-swap idea and supported it.

Meanwhile, the DPP caucus said it would sue Tsao and the KMT over the allegation that Tsao received NT$10 million to give up his seat.

DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) told the party's Central Standing Committee yesterday that the caucus believed Tsao and the KMT could be charged with breach of trust or corruption because "legislators should be regarded as government officials."

Additional reporting by Flora Wang