The Executive Yuan yesterday passed a regulation which requires politically appointed officials to have their property transferred to trust. Premier Su Tseng-chang (
While officials in the Presidential Office fall outside the jurisdiction of the regulation, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Presidential Office Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山) and two deputy secretaries-general will nonetheless put their property into trust, said Chen Wen-tsung (陳文宗), director of the Presidential Office's Department of Public Affairs.
The Enforcement Rules of the Act on Property-Declaration by Public Servants (公職人員財產申報法) demands that political administrators declare all their property within three months of taking office, although it doesn't require them to put their property into trust.
"We passed the regulation before any related legislation to demonstrate our determination to run the government with integrity and respond to the people's expectations," Su was quoted by Government Information Office Minister Cheng Wen-tsang (
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which has always projected an image of integrity, has recently been implicated in some corruption scandals. This has been given as one of the main reasons behind the party's poor performance in December's local government elections.
Su, who stepped down as DPP chairman in the wake of the election setback, was lauded by the president for his integrity.
He was appointed as premier to replace Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), who has been hurt by scandals surrounding the Kaohsiung mass rapid transit system.
Chen Wen-tsung said that the president put his property into trust on April 14, 2004 after pledging to do so in a re-election campaign speech on Feb. 14, 2004.
The public affairs official added that the president was happy to see the regulation passed at the Cabinet meeting.
In accordance with the regulation, officials are obliged to put their own property, as well as that of their spouse and minor children, into trust. With the exception of their permanent residence, all real estate and stock assets must be put into trust.
Su told the Cabinet yesterday that the range of items that must be put into trust had been decided based on the principles of reason and constitutionality, Cheng said.
The goal of the regulation is to make officials' property transactions more transparent without encroaching on their right to dispose of their property, Chang said.
That is why assets like bonds, deposits and cash have been excluded from the regulation.
"Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen (
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislative caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (
"The political administrators' funds and bonds should also be subject to the regulation," she said.
People First Party Legislator Lin Hui-kuan (
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