A small group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegates yesterday showed boxes of gifts they claimed to have received during the recent Central Standing Committee (CSC) election to protest the party's decision to punish only elected members in its bribery probe
The delegates from Yilan County brought the gifts, ranging from bottles of red wine to boxes of tea, orchids and soy sauce, to KMT headquarters in Taipei. They were led by the head of Jiaosi Township (礁溪), Lin Cheng-sheng (林政盛), who said each delegate received at least 50 gifts from almost every committee candidate.
“Everyone was sending gifts, but only Yang Chi-hsiung (楊吉雄) from Yilan was punished for bribery. We have come here today to protest the KMT's poor handling of the investigation,” Lin said in front of KMT headquarters.
The KMT's Evaluation and Disciplinary Committee on Tuesday revoked the elected status of Yang and Chiang Da-lung (江達隆) for bribing party delegates.
Yang was found to have sent fish worth NT$120 via a home delivery service, while Chiang sent red wine to delegates.
Both Yang and Chiang denied bribing delegates, but neither showed up at party headquarters yesterday. The protesters also declined to reveal the names of other CSC members who gave gifts, and took the gifts with them when they left.
Juan Kang-meng (阮剛猛), director of the party's disciplinary committee, questioned the intention of the protesters for refusing to leave the gifts as evidence.
“We don't know whether those gifts were sent by CSC members, or whether those protesters were delegates. We are skeptical of the intention of those behind this show,” he said.
Juan said the disciplinary committee would continue to probe bribery allegations and accept reports from KMT members. Disciplinary action will be taken against those found to have bribed delegates, he said.
CSC member Chen Ding-yun (陳釘雲) said sending gifts to delegates during a CSC election was a “historical glitch,” and said vote distribution was a worse problem during CSC elections.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), in his capacity as KMT chairman, yesterday praised the disciplinary committee for investigating the bribery allegations and reiterated his pledge to transform the KMT into a clean and responsible party.
“The end of the 18th national convention is the beginning of party reform ... We must let members and the society know about our determination to push for reform,” Ma said while presiding over his first CSC meeting after assuming the chairmanship.
Ma promised to seek closer cooperation between the government and the party, making the KMT a “great party” and his administration a “powerful government.”
He also pledged to turn the KMT into a party of action and asked party legislators to pass the fiscal budget for next year, as well as the budget for post-Typhoon Morakot reconstruction work.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Progressive Party panned the KMT for only picking on minor cases of bribery, while turning a blind eye to those who allegedly gave out more expensive gifts.
“If the KMT is willing to penalize those who handed out salted fish as a bribe, what should they do with those who gave out luggage, wine and blankets?” DPP Spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) asked.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU
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