The National Science Council, the Ministry of Education and Academia Sinica yesterday issued a joint declaration claiming legal support for professors embroiled in a fake receipt scandal, while calling for the prosecutors to desist from prosecuting the professors on charges of graft.
Changhua County prosecutors on Friday indicted 12 professors from four universities — National Chung Hsing University, National Yang Ming University, the National Defense Medical Center and National Taichung University of Education — for allegedly using false receipts to claim reimbursement.
The indictments are only the first round, with more than 100 professors nationwide suspected of involvement in a scam in which they obtained false receipts to claim reimbursement, prosecutors said.
Minister of Education Chiang Wei-ling (蔣偉寧), National Science Council Minister Cyrus Chu (朱敬一) and Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) issued the joint declaration yesterday.
Their statement said that the indictment has not only severely damaged morale in academia, but would also give the international community the false impression that Taiwanese academia is rampant with cases of graft because of its “backward legal system.”
It said that if professors had moved the money allotted for purchase of materials into personal accounts, or had purchased materials irrelevant to their research, there would be a legal basis for an indictment.
However, if professors used receipts for research material or research devices for reimbursement, then subjectively speaking they did not have the intention of graft, the statement said.
Indicting these professors on a graft charge would be too severe and unfair, and would not follow the principle of proportionality, it said.
It added that the ministry, the council and Academia Sinica would hire lawyers to look into the issue and provide the professors with legal support, calling on the prosecutors to observe the last item of Article 6 of the Basic Law of Science and Technology (科學技術基本法) and not pursue indictments on graft, and for the legislature and the Ministry of Justice to look into the essence of academic study to better distinguish the lines separating legal and academic issues.
It is the hope of the institutions and of the numerous academics across the country that the line can be clarified, the statement said.
According to a professor at National Taiwan University, the false receipts issue stem from a possibly flawed system. The professor said that doing research is a race against time and often professors do not have time to apply for funds to make purchases through the normal channels.
He cited as an example that if experimental equipment is bought for three years of use, but breaks down after one year, it would be a complex process to apply for funds all over again to replace the equipment.
Some academics would then use false receipts to pay for a new purchase so they can continue with their research, “otherwise, the trouble could be even bigger if we couldn’t finish it by the deadline,” the professor said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS