The Taipei City Government yesterday released documents saying that Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had made NT$68.09 million (US$2.09 million) in donations, describing it as proof that the mayor had never pocketed money from his special allowance fund.
A total of 236 donations had been made to public welfare groups, charity organizations, cultural and educational groups during Ma's eight-year term, city government officials said. More than 87 percent of the amount had been given to 53 public welfare groups, according to the city government.
"We checked donation receipts and transfer receipts and did not find any records of Ma pocketing the money from those donations," Chou Chih-cheng (
More than 99 percent of the donation receipts were examined, and only two donations, totaling NT$16,670, were made without receipts. Officials said that one of these donations was made to the family of a deceased reporter, and the other was given to an association that collects public welfare lottery receipts and uses the funds for charity work. In addition, about NT$2 million in donations were excluded from the total because complete receipts were unavailable, Chou said.
Although Chou, Deputy Mayor King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) and Taipei City Government Secretariat Director Lee Sush-der(李述德) gathered to outline the donation records, Ma was absent, opting to attend municipal events instead.
Although the accountant and the city government made public the total amount of donations and divided it by groups which received the money, they failed to clarify the portions of the donations that came from Ma's mayoral special allowance.
"What matters is not where the money came from, but where the money goes and how it is used," Lee said. "The mayor made donations totaling NT$68 million, which is much more than his mayoral allowance of NT$15 million ... He didn't pocket any money from the fund."
King cited the Ministry of Justice, which said on Wednesday that the special allowance fund should be seen as a "substantial subsidy" (
"It's also wrong to accuse Ma of profiting by donating money to his own foundations. Bill Gates also donated money to set up the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ... What matters is whether or not the foundation is doing charity work," he added.
Lee joined King in defending Ma over accusations that Ma had put the funds into his personal account and used the allowance as his own money.
While the allowance should be used for public affairs, with the mayor paying bills with his own money first and applying for reimbursement later, the reimbursement wired to Ma's account from the government should be treated as his own money, Lee said.
Although the donation records showed that Ma had donated more than NT$68 million, a closer examination found that excluding the NT$47 million mayoral election subsidies, NT$5 million election balance and trust fund and a NT$11 million donation from his personal account made last month, Ma only made about NT$5 million in donations with his allowance fund during his eight-year term.
In response to accusations that Ma had wired his allowance to his wife, Chou Mei-chin (
Asked to comment on criticism of the city government's crisis management abilities, King said the city government had shown caution and wanted to examine the evidence thoroughly before going public.
He added that the city government had held yesterday's press conference largely to "satisfy the media's curiosity."
"We also want to prove with numbers and facts that Mayor Ma has acted with integrity from the beginning," he said.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
RSS