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Ma says KMT to push for `dynamic filing' of assets

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hopes that an amendment to a "sunshine law" requiring public functionaries to disclose their financial assets to the Control Yuan will be passed by the legislature in its next session, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday.

Commenting at a KMT Central Standing Committee meeting in which several academics were invited to speak on the legislation of an amendment to the Public Functionary Assets Disclosure Law (公職人員財產申報法) -- commonly known as the "Sunshine Law" -- Ma said he advocated "dynamic filing" of assets reports to better reflect public functionaries' financial state when he was the minister of justice during the era of KMT rule.

Ma said that under the existing law, public functionaries are required to report their assets once a year, which he described as not often enough, since a person's assets can change dramatically in a very short period of time.

Under a "dynamic filing" design, Ma said, officials must report to the Control Yuan within one month should their assets change significantly.

For example, he suggested that if a civil servant buys stocks worth more than NT$500,000, the official should report the transaction within seven days.

"This will prevent scandals similar to that involving President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) former aide, Chen Che-nan (陳哲男), from recurring in the future," Ma said.

Chen Che-nan, a former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general, has been detained since April 7 on charges of taking bribes from a businessman and using insider information to reap profits from stock investments.

Meanwhile, Ma said, the KMT should also strive to push for the legislation of other bills, including a political party bill, a political contribution act and a political lobbying bill, to help clean up the country's political situation and at the same time allow the public to examine whether civil servants have unduly amassed wealth while in office.
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