Legislators lousy at keeping mum, assistants claim

A casual attitude toward national secrets pervades the Legislative Yuan, assistants to lawmakers said yesterday following reports that an assistant to a former independent legislator tried to sell copies of the country's confidential budgets to China.

Some legislative assistants told the Taipei Times yesterday that the attitude of legislators was partly to blame for security leaks, as well as the professional ethics of legislative assistants.

An assistant to a KMT legislator, who preferred anonymity, said it was not difficult to obtain copies of confidential budgets in the legislature, because many legislators would discard them as waste paper after reading them.

"As a matter of fact, even the cleaning ladies could have access to these confidential documents," the assistant said.

There is virtually no secrecy, even in closed-door sessions, such as those held for the review of secret budgets for the Ministry of National Defense, in which legislators are prohibited from carrying any copies out of the meeting room, the assistant said.

"Some legislators disclose what they have seen to reporters as soon as they step out of the meeting room or tell them over mobile phones while still in the meeting," she said.

An assistant to a DPP legislator agreed that the problem was serious.

"Everyone is well aware that this information should be kept secret, but many legislators probably think it is more important to get media exposure," the assistant said.

According to the report yesterday, the former assistant, identified by his surname Chen, used to work for a legislator in northern Taiwan and has run communication companies in Taiwan and China since he resigned from the job two years ago.

Chen had built up a number of contacts with other legislative assistants and has kept in touch since quitting his job, the report said.

During a visit about a week ago to one of his former colleagues who is still working as an assistant, Chen offered to pay NT$70,000 a month for copies of confidential budgets, the report said.

Chen also told the assistant that he was collecting the documents on behalf of Chinese authorities, according to the report.

It said that the National Security Bureau was investigating the case.

There have been two similar cases in the legislature in recent years.

In 1994, a Taiwanese businessman with investments in China approached an assistant to then legislator Ju Gau-jeng (朱高正), also for copies of confidential budgets. The assistant rejected the request, and the businessman later turned himself in to the authorities.

In 1999, a supervisor at the legislative office of then legislator Chen Chen-sheng (陳振盛) was alleged to have conspired with a Taiwanese businessman to sell confidential defense information to China.

The legislator, however, strongly denied the allegation and the case was closed.