The Agency Against Corruption’s fund for tips about allegedly corrupt officials ran up NT$30 million (US$972,100) in debt in the first quarter of the year, officials said.
The agency, established in 2011, paid rewards totaling NT$13 million out of an allocated NT$15 million in its inaugural year, records show.
In 2013, the agency budgeted NT$12 million, but generated a deficit of NT$2.9 million after disbursing rewards, the agency said.
Last year, its deficit was NT$320,000, it added.
With NT$9 million due within the first quarter of this year, the agency said it has exhausted its annual reward budget and is NT$30 million in deficit.
Agency officials said that under the Regulations on Rewarding and Protecting Informants on Corruption and Malfeasance (獎勵保護檢舉貪污瀆職辦法), if corruption is determined in the first trial, informants are entitled to one-third of the total reward money, adding that the rest of the reward money would be given after a case is closed.
Sources also said that unwritten rules in government organizations push budgets lower every year, causing the quandary of the agency owing money to more people, but having diminishing funds.
The agency said it has received several calls from informants asking about their payouts after first-trial rulings or conclusions in cases they referred.
To avoid curbing public enthusiasm for reporting potential corruption, the agency has asked the Ministry of Justice to seek reserve funds and pay off its debts.
Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) said the ministry would apply for reserve funds from the Executive Yuan, adding that tipsters should not be afraid of not being rewarded, although the funds would take some time to be paid out.
Informants are entitled to rewards ranging from NT$300,000 to NT$800,000 if convicts in cases they referred are sentenced to less than one year in prison or the equivalent in fines, while those whose tips lead to sentences of 15 years or more, life imprisonment or death penalties are eligible to receive from NT$6.7 million to NT$10 million, the agency said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS