Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), cleared of suspicion of misusing his special allowance fund on Friday, vowed yesterday to grant amnesty to all government officials whose special allowance fund expenditure is under judicial investigation if elected next year.
"If the political wrangling concerning special allowance funds continues, more than 6,500 public officials may be involved in the investigations ... it may take five years for all of the cases to be concluded," Hsieh told a press conference in Taipei.
Judicial resources and civic capital would also be consumed by the trials following the investigations, Hsieh said.
"Many people, including me, are very worried that our judicial system will be paralyzed if the investigations continue," he said. "If our government chiefs and political and administrative elite fall victim to the mechanism and become criminal suspects, we should review past administrative conventions and the [special allowance] reimbursement process."
On Friday, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and National Security Council Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山) were indicted for allegedly misusing their special allowance funds and for forgery.
Hsieh and his running mate, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), were cleared.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office on Friday alleged that Lu used 1,005 fraudulent receipts, adding up to NT$5.6 million (US$170,000) to claim reimbursements from her special allowance fund between December 2000 and May last year.
Prosecutors said Yu used 516 fraudulent receipts collected by his wife, Yang Pao-yu (楊寶玉), to claim NT$2.3 million in reimbursements from his special allowance fund between October 2000 and December 2005 during his time as secretary-general of the presidential office and as premier. Yang was indicted on charges of forgery.
Mark Chen used 106 receipts received from others to claim NT$368,000 between July 2004 and June last year while serving as minister of foreign affairs and the secretary-general of the presidential office, prosecutors said.
The charges against the DPP trio are similar in nature to those leveled at Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who on Feb. 13 was indicted on corruption charges for allegedly embezzling NT$11 million from his special allowance fund during his eight years as Taipei mayor.
The District Court found Ma not guilty of those charges on Aug. 14, a ruling which is being appealed by prosecutors.
According to the nation's administrative system, government chiefs are given special allowance funds, the amount of which varies according to their position.
Reimbursement of half of the fund requires receipts, while government chiefs can claim the other half of the fund without needing to produce receipts.
"Many [special allowance fund] lawsuits have been filed as a result of political wrangling during this period. No matter whether the defendants are `blue' or `green,' I am willing to solve the [systemic] problem with political wisdom," Hsieh said yesterday.
In response to Hsieh, Ma yesterday said an amnesty was a passive solution to the special allowance dispute.
Ma urged prosecutors to reach a consensus and give a universal interpretation on the nature and use of government officials' special allowance funds.
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