Taipei Clean Government Committee member Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) yesterday addressed comments by Taipei Deputy Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基), who said that Yaung sought to resign from the oversight group.
Teng earlier yesterday said that Yaung had submitted a resignation letter to the municipal government’s Department of Government Ethics.
“The major reason is that he feels that the Taipei Dome case which he was assigned by lot does not fit his professional background and experience,” Teng said, denying that Yaung’s withdrawal was sparked by difficulties with investigations.
Photo: Taipei Times
A former minister of health, Yaung has a doctorate in public health, but the committee has been tasked with investigating controversial municipal development projects, including the Taipei Dome arena, the proposed Taipei Twin Towers, the Taipei New Horizon (臺北文創) complex, Syntrend Creative Park (三創園區) and MeHAS City (美河市).
Teng said that because Yuang was not present at the committee’s first meeting, he was likely unaware that cases would be assigned by lot and also missed the opportunity to switch tasks with other committee members.
Teng added that Ko had charged him to try to persuade Yaung to remain a committee member, raising the possibility that Yaung could wait “on standby” until cases directly related to his professional background arose.
“We have no way of predicting what cases there will be in the future,” Teng said. “If there are cases related to medical care or pharmaceutical issues, we could use Yaung’s experience.”
However, Yaung later yesterday said that he intended to withdraw only from the subcommittee investigating the construction of the Taipei Dome, while remaining available if the capital sought his expertise in future cases.
Based on the phrasing of the resignation letter provided by the Department of Government Ethics, the confusion seems to have arisen because of a possible dual meaning of a key phrase.
The phrase in Chinese could read either as “resignation from this subcommittee” or “resignation from this particular committee.”
The letter also said that Yaung would be willing to assist with any future investigations related to medicine.
Teng added that if the remaining two members of the Taipei Dome subcommittee need help, an additional member could be appointed from the capital’s list of backup candidates.
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