KMT lobs corruption countercharges at DPP

Firing back at what it called the "negative campaigns" launched by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday lobbed a flurry of accusations at the DPP for its alleged corruption, and demanded responses from DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) within 24 hours.

The KMT began by questioning the integrity of the DPP's candidate in the key Taipei County commissioner race, Luo Wen-chia (羅文嘉), who has fiercely attacked the KMT's candidate over his huge unpaid debts.

"Su backed Luo up and asked KMT Chairman Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)] to revoke the party membership of our Taipei County commissioner candidate Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋)," KMT Spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) said yesterday at a press conference. "Su should not adopt double standards and treat issues in his own party with lower standards."

Cheng said Luo's moral integrity was addressed by a Control Yuan report, which concluded that Luo had improperly raised NT$20 million (US$600,000) from Kuo Yang Construction Co, Ltd for President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), when Chen was running for re-election in the Taipei mayoral race.

"Why doesn't Su revoke Luo's party membership immediately?" she asked.

Su on Monday urged Ma to make good on his promise to clean up the KMT by expelling Chou and forcing him to withdraw from the race. But Ma dismissed Su's demand as a negative campaign tactic.

Cheng also pointed fingers at DPP Taichung City mayoral candidate Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), whose campaign staff were investigated by prosecutors for vote-buying, and questioned Su for failing to respond to that issue immediately. In addition, Cheng demanded that Su explain whether he had taken any disciplinary actions against DPP Kaohsiung county chief Lee Chin-fu (李清福), who was indicted for corruption.

The KMT went on to ask Su to comment on the "defamatory" VCDs, which Su used to described as "scummy."

"If the prosecutors prove that the VCDs have something to do with the DPP's Taoyuan County commissioner candidate Cheng Po-ching (鄭寶清), what will you do?" Cheng asked Su.

Finally, Cheng asked whether Su, as a former secretary-general in the Presidential Office, knew anything more involving the misdeeds of former deputy secretary-general to the Presidential Office Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), who was indicted Monday for corruption and breach of trust for his involvement in the KRTC scandal.

"The current secretary-general of the Presidential Office Yu Shyi-kun apologized to the public and asked for disciplinary actions ... If Su knew such things when he was in the Presidential Office, why didn't he offer any apology?" she added.

In response, DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) yesterday said the KMT should cope with the integrity issue of its candidate for Taipei County commissioner and other candidates honestly, and should not try to change the subject by smearing the DPP's candidates with flimsy allegations.

"All the charges against the KMT's candidates by the DPP are backed up by proof and evidence," Cheng Wen-tsan said. "But so far we don't see any KMT candidates able to explain their corruption, and KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou takes no notice."

Cheng Wen-tsan added that if Ma really wanted to fulfill his promises to tackle KMT reforms, he should start with Chou, Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) and Changhua County commissioner candidate Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源), who were all involved in corruption cases.