Presidential Office Secretary-General Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) confirmed a report in yesterday’s Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had used the state affairs fund to pay for a birthday party banquet for former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Lien Chan (連戰) last Saturday.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said yesterday that Ma’s use of the state affairs fund indirectly proved that the fund was similar in nature to a special allowance fund, adding that the investigation into former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) use of the state affairs fund should be conducted using the same guidelines as the probe into Ma’s use of his mayoral special allowance fund when he was Taipei mayor, and that Chen should therefore be found innocent.
Ma was acquitted earlier this year of charges that he embezzled funds from his special allowance fund during his eight-year term as Taipei mayor. Former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) was indicted in November 2006 on similar charges related to use of the president’s state affairs fund during Chen’s presidency, while Chen has been named as a defendant. Prosecutors have argued the two funds are different in nature.
Tsai said that while 300,000 people marched in the streets last Saturday to demand that the government boost the economy, Ma was spending money celebrating Lien’s birthday.
That showed that Ma does not share in the public’s suffering and it makes him look bad, Tsai said.
In response, Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said yesterday that the use of the fund was appropriate, as holding a banquet for guests, domestic or foreign, receptions and the giving of rewards or gifts were all in accordance with the regulations for the use of the state affairs fund.
As the guest list consisted of people from the political sphere, their exchanges were very useful to Ma, Wang said.
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