TSU implies mayor might be making profit on EasyCards

The Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) yesterday expressed concern that Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) might have benefited illegally from the company that issues the city's MRT EasyCards.

"More than 8 million EasyCards have been issued by Taipei SmartCard Corp. The company charges a NT$100 deposit on each EasyCard, and charges NT$0.1 every time an EasyCard is used, so we estimate the company makes a profit of more than NT$600 million [US$18 million] per year," the TSU's Taipei mayoral candidate Clara Chou (周玉蔻) said at a press conference that she held jointly with the TSU legislative caucus.

Ma and the city government have failed to tell the public what happens to this money, which led the TSU to suspect Ma of having unlawfully benefited from Taipei SmartCard Corp, Chou said.

If Ma does not make public how the city government has used the profits, the TSU will take the mayor to court, TSU Legislator Tseng Tsahn-deng (曾燦燈) said.

As of press time last night, Ma had not responded to the TSU's accusations against him.