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ANALYSIS: DPP, KMT use loopholes to perpetuate scandals

"This is indeed a problem left over from the past ... the government auditing rules governing the use of such funds are not clear."

Liu Bih-rong, Soochow University political science professor

The nation's two main parties are taking advantage of legal loopholes to have their rivals charged with graft in a bid to win voters in the run-up to next year's presidential election, analysts said.

The latest in a series of high-profile cases that have rocked the country involves Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), who was charged on Friday with corruption and forgery for allegedly submitting false expense reports.

Analysts say the battle between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has shifted to the courts and turned ugly.

"The whole thing is a bit out of control," said Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica.

"The power struggle between the ruling and opposition parties has become more bloody" since key DPP and KMT members started hurling accusations of corruption at each other and sending "evidence" to prosecutors, Hsu said.

Political science professor Liao Da-chi (廖達琪) of National Sun Yat-sen University agreed, saying both camps had been using the loopholes to "smear the image" of the rivals.

The proliferation of corruption cases in Taiwanese politics stems from the dictatorship-era system of allotting "special funds" to top government officials.

The rules for the use of these funds are vague and full of loopholes, allowing some to argue that the special funds are in fact a kind of "subsidy" for officials, while others say that a high number of well-placed politicians are breaking the law.

"This is indeed a problem left over from the past ... the government auditing rules governing the use of such funds are not clear," said Liu Bih-rong (劉必榮), a political science professor at Soochow University. "I believe a majority of the government officials involved had no intention of embezzling such money."

"They just followed the rules that have been observed for decades. But they found they have became a suspect of graft overnight," Liu said.

First lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), who is on trial for allegedly illegally claiming NT$14.8 million (US$450,000) in personal expenses from state funds.

Prosecutors suspect that President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) himself may have been involved, but he enjoys full immunity from prosecution while in office. In his own defense, Chen said he had simply followed the KMT's rules in handling the special funds.

The DPP and the KMT later sued each other, claiming that top leaders on both sides had separately lined their pockets with state funds by submitting false receipts.

However, Liao warned that "while both camps might have gained through hurling the legal accusations, the tactics have backfired too."

DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and his running mate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), a former premier, have been cleared of wrongdoing as their expenses were found to be legitimate.

While his acquittal in the case may somewhat help boost his popularity, Hsieh warned at the time that it would take 1,000 prosecutors five years to complete investigations of the 6,500 government officials who have utilized such funds.

"Many people, like me, are worried that if this goes on, the country's justice system would be paralyzed," he said. "Just think about a mechanism which is prone to trap a country's top government officials and elites and enable them to become suspects. We really should review the administrative precedent and the auditing rules."

The KMT has not been spared either. KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was tried and acquitted on charges of misusing more than NT$11 million in expense accounts during his time as Taipei mayor from 1998 to last year.

Prosecutors have decided to appeal his acquittal.

Taiwan's justice system, working hard to revamp its poor image, has fallen victim to the merciless power struggles, Liu lamented.

"Eventually political measures may be needed to solve the legal issues," he said.

Fan Kuang-huan, a professor of political science at the Diwan College of Management, said that the only way to end the spiral of corruption cases is for the legislature to amend the legislation governing the use of special funds.

But he noted: "The timing is simply not right now. We may have to wait until the heated political emotions calm down after the election."
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