Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) plan to reinstate the Special Investigation Division (SID) to probe the Kaohsiung City Government’s debt is unnecessary and “embarrassing,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday.
As mayor, overseeing the Kaohsiung Department of Budget, Accounting and Statistics and Department of Finance, Han can simply ask his subordinates to review financial records, Ko told reporters on the sidelines of a Taiwan People’s Party event in Taipei.
That Han would propose reinstating the SID just to look over the city’s debt is “embarrassing,” he said.
The Kaohsiung City Government must consider its finances and take steps to resolve its debt issues, he said.
Han, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, said at a platform presentation on Wednesday that he would reinstate the SID if elected president on Jan. 11.
The SID would investigate the NT$880 billion (US$29.1 billion) budget for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration and a NT$2 trillion budget for solar energy projects, as well as clarify why the Kaohsiung City Government had accumulated debt of NT$330 billion before he took office in December last year, Han said.
Before its dissolution in 2016, the SID was responsible for investigating corruption and financial crimes by high-level officials such as the president, vice president and ministers.
Han’s campaign office yesterday reiterated that he would have the SID re-established to investigate the city’s debt, adding that Presidential Office Secretary-General Chen Chu (陳菊) added the most to the city’s debt while she was mayor.
Kaohsiung has the highest debt rate of NT$87,700 per resident among the nation’s six special municipalities, Han campaign office spokeswoman Anne Wang (王淺秋) told a news conference at KMT headquarters in Taipei yesterday.
While Chen has said that she cannot be held singlehandedly responsible for the city’s debt, she accumulated debt of nearly NT$107 billion during her time as mayor, more than any other city head, Wang said.
Former Kaohsiung mayors Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) added NT$71 billion and NT$7.3 billion in debt respectively during their terms, she said.
“The previous city government did a poor job on infrastructure, including roads, drainage systems and street lamps, but it is still criticizing the new administration,” she said.
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