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Presidential Office shows proof of voucher purchase

The Presidential Office yesterday presented proof of purchase of gift vouchers from various local department stores to refute allegations that they were gifts to the first family.

Deputy Secretary General of the Presidential Office Chou Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday called a press conference to show receipts for purchases of gift vouchers by the Yushan Presidential Residence from Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store, the Breeze Center and Sogo Department Store from 2003 to this year.

Chou was responding to allegations made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千), who said the gift vouchers, which the presidential residence used as prizes for its employees at a 2003 year-end banquet, were a gift from top executives at Sogo Department Store.

The first lady was earlier accused of intervening in the transfer of ownership at Sogo Department Store and improperly accepting Sogo gift vouchers in return.

Chou, however, did not provide a copy of receipts to the media, saying it was against the practice of the Presidential Office to make public its internal documents.

Chou emphasized that it was the first time since the nation's founding that the Presidential Office had to provide such detailed information to the public, saying it was not a regular practice of the office to make public its internal documents.

Chou said that while the receipts were not confidential documents, making them public would breach the practice of confidentiality of the Presidential Office in dealing with matters concerning national security and foreign relations.

Chou went on to condemn the legislators' allegations, which he said had distracted the presidential staff members from attending to their normal duties and forced them to waste precious time responding to "unfounded accusations."

"The President of the Dominican Republic Leonel Fernandez is visiting Taiwan soon ? but the presidential staff had to set aside their work on preparing for the visiting guests and instead spent the entire morning today looking through the files for these receipts. This is indeed a waste of resources," Chou said.

In response, Sun said that the Presidential Office did not offer a clear explanation about the vouchers and urged the Presidential Office not to avoid questions.

Sun said he believed Chou hid many details, adding that he knew more than the Presidential Office could ever imagine.

Additional reporting by Jewel Huang
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