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Ex-CLA head slams prosecutors over `misleading' reports

Former Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday lashed out at Kaohsiung prosecutors, accusing them of leaking information to the media about the investigation into the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal.

She blamed the prosecutors for reports in the media that council members were suspected of being involved in embezzlement amounting to NT$2 billion (US$59.5 million).

"These misleading reports have had a detrimental effect on our reputations. I want to express my utmost dissatisfaction about the rumors that have been spread, especially [by those] without knowledge of the hiring processes involved," Chen said.

Human rights

"In the past, I have dedicated my life to protecting human rights; today I will apply the same spirit to protect the rights and the dignity of my long-term fellow workers," Chen said.

Chen was summoned for questioning on Oct. 31 by Kaohsiung prosecutors investigating the KRTC scandal.

The prosecutors wanted to know why the CLA, after placing a ban on the hiring of foreign laborers for work on major infrastructure projects in May 2001, had apparently reversed this decision in June 2003. They are also investigating a discrepancy of NT$2 billion between the planned cost of hiring laborers and the actual cost.

Chu said yesterday that the CLA had not changed its policy on foreign workers, as regulations promulgated in June 2003 allowed for the hiring of foreign laborers for build operate transfer projects contracted before May 16, 2001.

Discrepancy

As for the NT$2 billion discrepancy in labor costs, Chen said that the monitoring of costs was not something the CLA had been responsible for.

"So how could there be any possibility of embezzlement?" she said.

Kuo Fang-yu (郭芳煜), head of the CLA's employment and training division, said that there is a huge misunderstanding about the apparent discrepancy.

He said that the KRTC had originally outlined four separate categories of hiring costs due to uncertainty about the type of workers it would be able to hire.

The discrepancy arose after the CLA approved the use of foreign labor, Kuo said.

The decision to hire foreign workers had been the result of careful consideration by the KRTC, and it should have been up to the corporation and the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit Bureau to decide how to deal with the discrepancy in costs, not the CLA, he said.
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