Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday reaffirmed their support for senior officials of former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration who have been accused of failing to return tens of thousands of official documents, even as the Presidential Office aimed to bolster its case.
Allegations of legal violations have been rejected by the 17 former aides to Chen — accused of failing to file up to 25,334 classified foreign affairs documents and 10,958 unclassified files between 2000 and 2008.
Seeking to stave off what could be a major legal headache and political problem for the former aides, many of them now senior DPP officials, critics said that questions should be directed at the team that oversaw the presidential transition three years ago.
Important Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials were a part of the team, tasked with ensuring a smooth turnover between administrations in 2008, including Presidential spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), who first issued the accusations on Tuesday night.
“Why didn’t they check the documents during the transition? Why wait three years to come out and say that everything has disappeared?” DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) asked at a caucus press conference yesterday. “We are unable to accept the accusations.”
Included among DPP politicians’ grievances is the timing of the allegations — at the same time that the party started its presidential primaries. Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), a presidential hopeful, is among the 17 former -administration officials included in the accusations.
“It’s infuriating, but also -laughable,” DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said. “They have to continue attacking the former [Chen] administration to keep Ma’s chance of re-election alive.”
A point of contention includes a DPP assertion that most documents were copies or faxes handled by junior staffers, including those tasked with sending and receiving files, and therefore senior officials should not be included in the allegations.
A former DPP administration official at the National Archives Administration studying the issue said that a large number of the Presidential Office documents are typically reports and notices filed from other agencies, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“In this case, the ministry would be responsible for filing the -document and not the Presidential Office official that received it,” said the official, who spoke on -condition of anonymity. “Otherwise, we would have many duplicate copies in the archive system.”
Critics also say that some of the so-called missing documents were private correspondence that did not need to be filed.
DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) said that based on the party’s understanding, the Presidential Office’s allegations included correspondence such as complaints, greetings and even Christmas cards that were not covered by the Archives Act (檔案管理法).
“Most of these were unrelated to their official [duties] and did not have to be returned,” Lin said.
The allegations center on whether the former DPP staffers utilized the Presidential Office’s main archive filing system to register documents and file them in the archives after use, or whether files were passed around via informal channels.
It stated that a total of 25,334 classified foreign affairs documents and 10,958 unclassified files were missing from the system and were not turned over to Ma’s incoming administration in 2008.
Under the Archives Act, government officials are obligated to pass documents over to the archives when they step down from office — which the Presidential Office alleges was not done. A violation could be penalized by two years in prison or a NT$50,000 fine.
The Control Yuan is in charge of investigating the matter. In a statement yesterday, the government watchdog said it had asked the Presidential Office to clarify the issue and requested more information.
“The Control Yuan will not delay handling this [issue],” the -statement said.
Top 10 accused former officials
The top 10 officials in former president Chen Shui-bian’s administration who have been -accused of failing to return official documents (in terms of percentage of documents returned):
‧ Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) — received 14,134; returned 4
‧ Former deputy secretary-general Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) — received 905; returned 9
‧ Former deputy secretary-general Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) — received 2,361; returned 30
‧ Former deputy secretary-general Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) — received 1,428; returned 32
‧ Former secretary-general Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) — received 1,233; returned 55
‧ Former secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) — received 3,492; returned 225
‧ Former secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山) — received 2,669; returned 184
‧ Former secretary-general Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) — received 400; returned 29
‧ Former deputy secretary-general Eugene Chien (簡又新) —received 12; returned 1
‧ Former secretary-general Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) — received 1,649; returned 156
Source: the Presidential Office
Compiled by Staff Reporter Ko Shu-ling
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