Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsieh Hsin-ni (
Hsieh's allegations follow Taipei City Government Secretariat Director Lee Sush-der's (李述德) announcement on Tuesday that staffer Yu Wen (余文) substituted his own receipts for larger amounts for receipts for smaller amounts to simplify his paperwork.
"[Lee's explanation] was a lie. We got information this morning that the receipts for smaller amounts [which were replaced by Yu's own receipts for larger amounts] were actually the receipts for Ma and his family members' miscellaneous expenses" Hsieh said.
Without elaborating on how she obtained the information, Hsieh said that an informant told her that the original receipts were issued by stores near Ma's residence.
"Ma used the fund to buy bread, soybean milk and female hygiene products. I bet Ma would feel embarrassed if the [original] receipts were disclosed to the public," she added.
DPP Legislator Lin Kuo-ching (
"There is no doubt that using the mayoral allowance fund as a personal fund amounts to corruption. Ma should stop telling lies and face up to the facts," Lin said.
DPP Legislator William Lai (
The DPP legislators also demanded that Ma disclose the identities of the Taipei City Government employees who had received gifts or rewards paid for from the fund, as the mayor told reporters on Tuesday that he had spent half of the fund on his staff.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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