A scandal involving Lin Yih-shih (林益世), who has just resigned as executive secretary-general because of corruption allegations, has a measure of irony as Lin also serves as a member of the Cabinet’s anti-corruption committee, according to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members.
Lin was accused by Chen Chi-hsiang (陳啟祥) — the owner of Kaohsiung-based Ti Yung Co — of having taken bribes from him.
According to a report in Next Magazine, Lin received a bribe of NT$63 million (US$2.1 million) from Chen to help his company secure a slag treatment contract from China Steel Corp (中鋼, CSC) two years ago when Lin was a legislator.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Lin later demanded a further NT$83 million from Chen between February and March this year, the report said.
When Chen refused to pay up, Lin pressured CSC in April to stop supplying slag to Ti Yung for treatment, according to the magazine report.
Since the first term of his presidency, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has made repeated calls for the establishment of a new and cleaner political model with stricter regulations governing the actions of government employees.
The Ma administration also sought to re-establish regulations on the interactions between government and corporations to prevent the government becoming a plutocracy and set up the anti-corruption committee under the Executive Yuan, as well as adopted a set of anti-corruption rules that regulate civil servants.
The committee’s primary purpose is to usher in a new era of clean politics by mandating anti-corruption policies and establishing punitive measures, with the premier holding the position of convener.
According to KMT members who wished not to be named, if Lin, a member of the committee, was innocent of the allegations, then there would be no problems.
However, if Lin did indeed take bribes while serving as a member of the anti-corruption committee, then it is ironic, they said.
Because Lin is one of Ma’s preferred clique of officials, if it is proven that Lin had taken bribes, it would come as a huge dent to claims made by the Ma administration that it operates a clean government, they added.
Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) yesterday accepted Lin’s resignation as Executive Yuan secretary-general because of alleged corruption.
Presidential Office deputy spokesperson Lee Chia-fei (李佳霏), said yesterday that Ma respected Lin’s decision to resign from his post and thanked him for his assistance on administrative and legislative affairs over the years.
“President Ma respected Secretary-General Lin’s decision and approved of his resignation. He also appreciated his dedication to administrative and legislative teams,” Lee said.
As the case is under investigation, the Presidential Office respects the investigation process and supports the judicial body to uncover the truth, Lee added.
“President Ma thinks that integrity is the basic moral standard for public servants and there’s no gray area in this regard,” she said.
As more accusations were made against Lin amid the scandal, the Presidential Office and the KMT have been conservative in defending Lin.
Following Lin’s press conference on Thursday evening, in which he insisted on his innocence, the Presidential Office issued a midnight statement saying Lin should collect more information and explain the issue clearly and that Ma agreed that prosecutors should launch a probe into the case.
Ma had reportedly asked Lin to offer to step down in a bid to stop the scandal from damaging the reputation of the Ma administration.
The Presidential Office yesterday denied that, but repeated that Ma respected and accepted Lin’s resignation.
Lin’s resignation will formally take effect upon Ma’s approval.
Lin will be removed from the KMT Central Standing Committee as well, once his resignation takes effect.
On Lin’s alleged involvement in the corruption scandal, the KMT said the party respected Lin’s decision to resign while the case is under investigation.
Ma, who only commented on Lin’s case via statements, yesterday stressed the importance of integrity at a joint military school graduation ceremony, urging graduates to refrain from “being greedy.”
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
FLU SEASON: Twenty-six severe cases were reported from Tuesday last week to Monday, including a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with influenza-associated encephalopathy Nearly 140,000 people sought medical assistance for diarrhea last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Tuesday. From April 7 to Saturday last week, 139,848 people sought medical help for diarrhea-related illness, a 15.7 percent increase from last week’s 120,868 reports, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The number of people who reported diarrhea-related illness last week was the fourth highest in the same time period over the past decade, Lee said. Over the past four weeks, 203 mass illness cases had been reported, nearly four times higher than the 54 cases documented in the same period
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
HOSPITALITY HIT: Hotels in Hualien have an occupancy rate of 10 percent, down from 30 percent before the earthquake, a Tourism Administration official said The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a stimulus package of vouchers and subsidies to revive tourism in Hualien County following a quake measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale. The tremor on April 3, which killed at least 17 people and left two others missing, caused the county an estimated NT$3 billion (US$92.7 million) in damages. The Ministry of Economic Affairs is to issue vouchers worth NT$200 at the price of NT$100 for purchases at the Dongdamen Night Market (東大門夜市) in Hualien City to boost spending, a ministry official told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Taipei. The ministry plans to issue 18,400