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Hsieh campaign urges Ma to detail donations

Lee Ying-yuan, campaign manager for Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh, points to a table listing differences in Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's use of his special mayoral allowance when he was Taipei mayor and Hsieh's use of his own allowance during his stint as Kaohsiung mayor at a press conference in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: CNA

Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) office yesterday urged Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to publicize details of electoral donations his campaign has received.

Lee Ying-yuan (李應元), chief executive officer of Hsieh's campaign, told a press conference that Hsieh wanted the presidential campaign to be conducted in a transparent manner.

As a result, Hsieh has been cooperating with judicial probes in cases centering on his special allowance and political donations, Lee said.

"We hope both sides [Ma and Hsieh's campaigns] can face judicial procedures honestly and show the public that we are applying the same standard to ourselves as we apply to our opponent," Lee said.

"Therefore, we urge Ma's office to make public the sources of the donations he received during his terms as Taipei mayor and during his election campaigns and show how the money was spent," Lee said.

Lee made the remarks at the news conference after Hsieh had a meeting with Special Investigation Section Prosecutor Chou Chih-jung (周志榮) of the Supreme Court Prosecutors Office at Chou's office on Friday.

Donations

Hsieh allegedly accepted large political donations from a group of construction companies during his term as Kaohsiung mayor in 2002.

Kaohsiung Prosecutor Lo Chien-hsun (羅建勛) alleged last year the companies made donations to Hsieh during the bidding for Kaohsiung's MRT construction project.

After making the donations, the companies had all been accepted as MRT contractors, he said.

On Friday, Hsieh said that all the donors summoned by prosecutors as witnesses in the case had told prosecutors they had made the donations in order to support his election campaign and not to curry favor in the selection process for MRT contractors.

Lee urged the media, political talk shows and newspapers not to make "groundless defamatory comments" against Hsieh.

Hsieh's camp had assembled a group of lawyers to take immediate action to "safeguard Hsieh's basic human rights and reputation," Lee said.

In response to the request by Hsieh's camp, Ma yesterday urged Hsieh "not to drag others into his corruption scandals."

"Hsieh should face the charges with courage and explain himself to the prosecutors, rather than involving other people in his case," Ma said.

Shrugging off the remarks by Hsieh's office, Ma campaign spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said Ma would not respond to Hsieh's election tactics.

Lo also urged the Hsieh campaign not to try to shift the focus away from the corruption issues that Hsieh faces.

"Hsieh should make his own accounts public before asking others to do so," Lo said.

Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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