Presidential Office press relations director Tsai Chung-li (蔡仲禮) offered to resign amid graft allegations, the office said yesterday.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said Tsai offered his resignation on Tuesday, but Presidential Office Secretary-General Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) turned it down and instead transferred him to a non-executive position while and internal investigation is being conducted.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) told Tsai to explain the matter to the public, said Wang, who made the remarks in response to a report published in the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) yesterday.
The report quoted Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) and Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) as saying Tsai Chung-li had purchased a house in Maryland in October 2005.
Tsai Chung-li would have been entitled to subsidies of US$2,464 a month if he did not own a house, and US$869 if he did.
The DPP legislators said that he continued to collect the full compensation after buying the house.
Kuan said she suspected Tsai Chung-li had committed forgery, fraud and embezzlement.
Liao said yesterday that Tsai Chung-li reported the matter to him on Tuesday but said his wife was in charge of his finances. However, he said he wanted to shoulder any responsibility for the matter because he and his wife have joint accounts.
Similar accusations were made last month when DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) citing a Next Magazine article, said that former EU representative Shen Lyu-hsun (沈呂巡) had inflated the rent of his office in Geneva during his term from 2003 to last year.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, dismissed the allegation. The ministry said Shen took the initiative to report the matter to them in February 2007. The ministry said the landlord had provided false information about the area of the office and overcharged for rent, requiring Shen to claim more subsidies to pay the rent.
A probe launched by the ministry that was concluded in May last year found that Shen had not embezzled funds, but that he had not handled the matter well. Shen received two demerits but was later promoted to his current position of deputy minister of foreign affairs.
Chiu attributed Shen’s promotion to his connections with Ma, as the two were high school classmates.
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