TSU legislators urge greater scrutiny of some Cabinet funds

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers yesterday said they would seek support at the legislature to request the Cabinet to submit more details on the non-profit funding part of its annual budget.

"The non-profit funding budget occupies 77.45 percent of the Cabinet's entire annual budget proposal. But, we only received a few pages of explanation and briefing ... It is ridiculous," TSU Legislator Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said. "It is a great amount of money we are talking about here, for God's sake. We should be very careful with this kind of issue, when it concerns so much money."

Lai the comments at a press conference at the Legislative Yuan yesterday morning.

Oversight

TSU Legislator David Huang (黃適卓) echoed Lai's remarks and encouraged his fellow lawmakers to establish a "government non-profit funds supervising committee" to prevent misuse of the funds.

Huang said the Cabinet should hire professionals to manage the funds, who should also be evaluated by the public.

"We can't be too careful with things like this, especially when it concerns a lot of money," Huang said.

Lai that according to the Central Government's Management of Non-profit Funding Act (中央政府特別基金管理條例), non-profit funds can be established under several different circumstances as long as the Cabinet approves the applications.

And managers of the funds are usually Cabinet members, Lai added.

"It is as if members of our Cabinet have their own private vault, and the way they put the money to use does not require any authorization from us," Lai said.

Lack of details

Lai said she would urge her fellow lawmakers to help prevent scandals over the issue.

She said she had discovered that many Cabinet members had not been honest in reporting on their non-profit funds by giving shortened or simplified briefings.

"It is hard for me to believe that every penny of our money was spent at the right place at the right time," she added.

Lai alleged that the Cabinet had taken advantage of these non-profit funds to make unauthorized investments in other businesses.

"If they [Cabinet officials] make more money, it will be a good thing. But, who knows if they use the extra cash on the people or if some bad officials simply pocket it themselves, since I am quite sure that they have good accountants who can help them make everything legal," Lai said. "Since it is non-profit, it should remain non-profit."