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.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
RSS