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DPP lawmaker raises questions on Ma's integrity

"Ma actually used the special allowance [funds] in his account as his personal money."

Hsieh Hsin-ni, DPP legislator

The integrity of Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was called into question by a lawmaker from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday over his use of a special mayoral allowance.

Legislator Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) told a press conference at the Legislative Yuan that Ma would soon be interrogated by prosecutors about his alleged embezzlement from the special allowance that the city government gives the mayor.

"We have received information that prosecutors have investigated Ma's bank accounts and found irregularities in his use of his special allowance," Hsieh said.

Hsieh and other DPP legislators have previously accused the mayor of siphoning off half of the special allowance -- or NT$170,000 -- into his personal account each month.

The allegation against Ma has been under investigation by prosecutors with the Black Gold Investigation Center of the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office.

Ma has denied the accusation, saying that the special allowance was used only for public affairs and he has always separated the special allowance from his personal expenses.

But Hsieh said yesterday that Ma's clarification was a lie because prosecutors had found that there were very few remittances from the account.

"Ma actually used the special allowance [funds] in his account as his personal money," Hsieh said.

Earlier in the day, a group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators invited Ministry of Audit officials to vouch for Ma's integrity at a press conference.

"We didn't find any illegalities after investigating the use of Ma's special allowance," ministry spokesman Wang Yung-hsing (王永興) said.

Wang said there were different ways for local government chiefs to cash half of their special allowances, for which they don't need to provide receipts.

"It is legal for Ma to funnel half of his special allowance into a personal account," Wang said.

KMT legislative caucus whip Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆) demanded that prosecutors question such prominent DPP members as former premier and Kaohsiung mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and former premier Yu Shyi-kun if prosecutors want to question Ma.

"Since all four served as heads of local governments before, their usage of their special allowances also needs to be investigated," Tsai said.
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