Officials from the Ministry of Audit visited the Presidential Office yesterday to investigate an allegation by a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator that the office used fake receipts to prove that Sogo gift vouchers at the center of a scandal had been paid for.
Spokesman Wang Yung-hsing (王永興) said the ministry would check whether the Presidential Office's receipts coincided with the data in its account books and financial reports, and whether its expenditure was within legal limits.
"However, we will not immediately release the findings of our investigation because to do so would violate the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (
He said the ministry would ask for copies of the Presidential Office's financial records if it deemed it necessary.
The ministry's investigation follows in the wake of KMT Legislator Sun Ta-chien's (孫大千) allegation that the Sogo vouchers the first couple had used as prizes for the presidential residence's employees at a 2003 banquet, valued at NT$60,000, were a gift from a top executive at Sogo Department Store.
Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Chou Jung-tai (卓榮泰) denied Sun's accusation at a press conference last week and produced receipts which he said proved the vouchers had been paid for.
Chou at the time refused to provide copies of the receipts to reporters, saying the Presidential Office did not make its internal documents public, and Sun and other pan-blue legislators were quick to claim the receipts might be fakes.
Presidential Office Spokesman David Lee (
Lee dismissed an allegation that the Presidential Office had twice rejected requests for auditors to visit this month. He said auditors had visited the Presidential Office on two occasions to discuss the audit process.
Lee refused to disclose exactly which documents had been shown to the two auditors who visited the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon.
As for how long the auditors would spend conducting the audit, Lee said it was not a matter for the Presidential Office to decide.
Chou was unable to receive the auditors.
The auditors were received by Fon Shui-lin (
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (
Lee, however, dismissed Chiu's allegation as "incorrect," saying that the auditors would soon prove Chiu wrong.
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