The long-time practice by lawmakers of asking for year-end party gifts from state-run companies has come under attack from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, who called it unethical behavior that could damage lawmakers’ impartiality.
The DPP legislative caucus recently singled out Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) and Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進) for asking state-owned businesses to provide gifts for draws at their year-end gatherings, while KMT Legislator Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏) twice last year asked state-run companies to provide presents and souvenirs for participants for activities he organized in October and last month.
A senior legislative office aide who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the practice has been in place for a long time and that it was normal for lawmakers across party lines to ask for sponsoring from government institutions and state-run businesses.
The aide said that in the past there were even cases in which lawmakers asked state-owned businesses to cover their trips abroad.
Another official who asked not to be named said that some government institutions took the initiative by asking lawmakers if they needed sponsoring.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) said she would not ask government offices to provide souvenirs, adding that compared with government corruption or the revision of laws benefiting certain groups or individuals, the practice was a “small evil.”
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) voiced concern that while lawmakers are supposed to keep the government in check, asking for souvenirs and gifts from the government could raise public doubts about lawmakers’ impartiality.
The KMT legislators named by the DPP caucus, however, argued that the exchange of gifts was not a big deal.
Lu said she had asked state-run businesses to sponsor year-end parties she had organized, but added that she would also sponsor year-end banquets held by government-owned businesses.
Lu said sponsoring requests was not mandatory.
Lin said all the gifts he asked for were given to charity and volunteer groups for their banquets, not to his own.
“I don’t know what this controversy is all about,” he said.
Lee, on the other hand, said the exchange of gifts between legislators’ offices and state-run businesses was an old practice and that there was nothing wrong with it.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
RSS