President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday insisted that he was not personally involved in the MeHAS City (美河市) project after reports emerged showing his signature on the contract for the controversial residential and commercial development project, which was signed while he was mayor of Taipei in 2006.
The signature was imprinted on the contract with Radium Life Tech Co (日勝生) using a “signature stamp” (簽名章) and not personally signed by him, Ma told reporters, when asked about his signature on the contract.
Ma did not say who stamped his signature on the contract.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Liang Wen-je (梁文傑) and radio host Clara Chou (周玉蔻) on Friday posted copies of the contract online to dispute Ma’s statement that he knew very little about the project.
In a recent interview with the Want Want China Times Group (旺旺中時集團), Ma said that decisions pertaining to the signing of the contract were made by the city’s deputy mayor at the time.
“I knew [about the case], but did not know the specifics,” Ma was quoted as saying.
MeHAS City is one of the major projects contracted by the city’s former administrations that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has placed under investigation by the city’s Clean Government Commission.
The city is in mediation with Radium Life Tech, seeking NT$7.6 billion (US$242.23 million) in compensation for alleged appraisal fraud.
Prosecutors in 2013 charged officials from the city’s Department of Rapid Transit Systems with forging land property documents that underestimated the city’s stake in the project to benefit the developer.
Asked about another controversial project — the Taipei Dome (台北大巨蛋) — whose contract Ko has described as an “unequal treaty,” Ma said in the interview that the then-city government handled the case in accordance with the Executive Yuan Public Construction Commission’s policy.
Critics said the president is trying to pass the buck.
“The MeHAS City project was undertaken when Ma was mayor. [If it is true that] he knew nothing about it, then that must be why the project is problematic. That is the crux of the matter,” Ko said on Friday when asked for a comment.
Liang said Ma is trying to shift the blame to Ou Chin-der (歐晉德), one of his confidants and deputy mayor at the time.
If Ou was in charge of the project, that would make the case even more intriguing, as Ou has been working for Radium Life Tech’s compensation commission since December 2011, Liang said.
“Was it a reward for Ou, or the developer hiring Ou to serve as its guardian angel?” Liang said.
“Even though there are different levels of administrative responsibility, what the public cares about is who shoulders the political responsibility,” Taipei City Government deputy spokesman David Huang (黃大維) said. “Political responsibility cannot be discharged by pleading ignorance or claiming that one did not personally stamp the signature.”
“The mayor represents the city government,” said Hung Chi-kune (洪智坤), a close aide and adviser to Ko. “Because outside contracts signed by the city represent the mayor, [the mayor] cannot shirk political and legal responsibility.”
Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) said the MeHAS City project was one of many cases delegated to officials in subordinate positions in accordance with the principle of “administrative decentralization,” the core principle of government operation to improve efficiency.
“As the mayor of Taipei, Ko should know this principle,” Chen said.
“The MeHAS city and Taipei projects involved millions of [New Taiwan] dollars — if you did not know about them, you need to personally go to the people with an explanation,” Ko said later last night, adding that the Presidential Office spokesman’s comments verged on asserting that a mayor could shirk responsibility for important policy decisi ns.
Additional reporting by Abraham Gerber and Aaron Tu
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