Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors once again accused Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
The mayor's bank account has increased by more than NT$1.06 million (US$30,000) over the past seven years because he funneled half his monthly special allowance fund into his personal account, the councilors claimed.
Ma receives a special allowance of NT$340,000 per month.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"Why didn't you open another account for the special allowance fund? As a person who has pledged to fight corruption, you should hold yourself to a higher standard," Councilwoman Hsu Chia-chin (
Councilors Lee Chian-chang (
"The biggest problem is that you see the fund as your own personal fortune and don't return the money left over," Lee said.
The councilors also reiterated criticism over Ma paying the physical examination fee and other expenses to adopt his dog with money from the fund. The mayor has since reimbursed the fund for those fees.
Ma responded to the criticism by pointing out that he was subject to the same regulations that governed the special allowances allotted to the country's more than 6,000 top government officials -- which allowed officials to wire the money directly into personal accounts and only required them to provide receipts for half the expenditures.
"Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) receives his fund in the same way, too ? The issue is the regulations and that is not my problem," Ma said.
The mayor said that most of his special allowance was spent on public welfare.
Shih Su-mei (
"The regulations state that officials only need to provide receipts for half of the expenditures ? If the government changes its rules in the future, we will follow them," Shih said.
While Ma insisted that most of his fund money goes to public or charity events, Hsu questioned donations that Ma's wife's made to two foundations -- the Dwen An Social Welfare Foundation and New Taiwanese Cultural Foundation.
Both foundations were founded by the mayor.
"You used Taipei residents' money to make donations to your own foundations. Does that make any sense?" Hsu said.
The DPP councilors said they would ask the Ministry of Audit to examine Ma's expenditures.
Yesterday was the last time Ma was to answer questions in the City Council during his term as Taipei mayor.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS