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Political parties shrug off call to publicize finances

The deadline for a regulation requiring political parties and organizations to post their financial earnings is approaching, but none of the country's 172 parties and organizations, including the main political parties, have moved to publicize their finances.

The Ministry of the Interior announced last year that starting in January, it would require parties with earnings of NT$30 million (US$900,000) or more to submit their annual income and financial statements to auditors for review, and then post the information on the Web site.

However, the requirement isn't legally binding, and parties will not be punished for non-compliance, a ministry spokesperson said.

The deadline for the first posting is the end of this month, but none of the political organizations have moved to post their finances, despite what sources in the ministry said were pledges from major parties to cooperate with its request.

Parties are currently required to publicize their political contributions, but not their debts and assets, while civic groups and professional associations must make public all their finances, sources said.

Asked why they haven't posted their finances yet, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials said their finances are already transparent.

"Our party's finances have always been open," said Super Meng (孟義超), deputy director of the DPP's Department of Culture and Information. "Not like the KMT's party assets."

Chang Che-chen (張哲琛), chairman of the KMT's Administrative and Management Commission, said the KMT didn't need to cooperate with the interior ministry, which is requiring parties to post their finances because of political motivations.
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