Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) yesterday rebutted media reports that he had been in a conflict of interest since he served as director of a National Science Council (NSC)-sponsored project while also serving as a minister.
Yesterday’s issue of the Chinese-language Next Magazine reported that several government officials — including Jiang, former National Communications Commission chairman Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽) and Council of Indigenous Peoples Minister Sun Ta-chuan (孫大川) — have served as project directors while serving in an official capacity.
Jiang said the project — with a NT$2.95 million (US$92,000) grant from the NSC — started in 2006, before he became the head of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) in 2008 and Minister of the Interior last year.
“Because I took office in 2008, I specifically asked the NSC whether I should continue with the project and the NSC told me that the project was not in conflict with my position in the Cabinet,” Jiang told a press conference.
“In fact, they told me that they considered the project an important one and did not wish to interrupt it,” Jiang said.
As he was no longer able to attend academic conferences abroad or buy new equipment, Jiang said he returned NT$780,000 that he no longer needed to the NSC.
He added that the topic of the research project was comparing political philosophies of the East and the West, “which has nothing to do with the businesses of either the RDEC or the ministry, so there were actually no conflict of interest issues involved.”
While Next Magazine reported that the project ended in July, Jiang said it actually ended in July last year.
“A reporter from Next Magazine interviewed me last night [for the report], and I told him everything I am telling you right now,” Jiang said.
“It’s a pity that the magazine did not publish everything I said,” he added.
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