A Taipei city councilor candidate yesterday accused Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) of bribing her KMT colleagues to revise the Accounting Act (會計法) and of tax evasion.
Lo denied the charges, saying she was not a lawmaker at the time.
“We have received reports from a member of the Taipei Certified Public Accountants’ Association that when Lo served as the public relations director of the association in 2007 and president of the National Federation of Certified Public Accountants, Lo gave NT$250,000 [US$6,574] per month to select lawmakers in the Finance Committee to sponsor salaries for their aides and to facilitate the revision of the Accounting Act,” Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Taipei city councilor candidate Chien Sheng-che (簡聖哲) told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“Many of the lawmakers are KMT heavyweights who are still in the legislature; it may be the end of their political career if I publicize the list.”
Besides illegal lobbying, Chien said the reports he received also accuse Lo of using a false diploma and of illegally using public funds to pay for overseas trips for reporters.
Chien said his allegations are based on hard evidence, and challenged Lo to sue him for defamation if she thinks what he said was false.
“I will give the court everything I have. Let’s just meet in court,” Chien said.
Another TSU city councilor candidate, Hsieh Chien-ping (謝建平), said that Lo may rebut the accusations, but it would not mean she is clean.
“A couple of weeks back, we accused her of taking NT$200,000 per month from a private business, and serving on its board of directors to solve problems that the business may encounter,” Hsieh said.
“Lo said the accusations were groundless, but she still resigned as a member of the board,” Hsieh said.
Dismissing the allegations, Lo said she was not a legislator when the Accounting Act was revised.
“I had no power, and it took more than one person to revise the law,” Lo said.
“Actually, TSU Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉), who was a legislator at the time, also supported the revisions,” Lo said.
She added that there was nothing illegal for a non-governmental organization to give political donations to lawmakers.
“If you think I’ve done anything illegal, go ahead and forward whatever you have to prosecutors,” Lo said.
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