Over the past few decades, there have been frequent reports of city and county councilors being sentenced for embezzling funds through shell accounts for bogus assistants.
As the monthly salary for a councilor assistant is only NT$30,000 to NT$40,000 (US$1,056 to US$1,407), why is the money so alluring to some councilors, even at the cost of their political careers?
During her term, a former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Tainan city councilor surnamed Yang (楊) embezzled funds by making false reports on expenses, illegally profiting by as much as NT$6.68 million through shell accounts under bogus names.
Neither are cases of councilors embezzling funds over several terms unheard of. From 2010 to 2017, a former DPP Taoyuan city councilor surnamed Chiu (邱) applied for monthly salaries for his “assistants,” who were actually working for his family’s land administration agency during the period.
Not only did he not have to pay them, but he did not have to provide labor and health insurance for them. By doing so, he embezzled as much as NT$8.22 million from the Taoyuan City Government.
More absurdly, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taoyuan city councilor surnamed Shu (舒), who is serving a sixth term, was late last year charged for embezzling funds via shell accounts of bogus assistants in the names of her mother, who had had a stroke, her older brother, who has a mental disorder, and several friends. Prosecutors accused the councilor of embezzling NT$9.8 million.
The monthly salary of a bogus assistant is insignificant, but when a councilor makes relatives and friends bogus assistants, the long-term total of their salaries might be enough to invest in real estate, which is probably why some councilors are willing to take the risk.
Under the assistant fee system, councilors can provide subsidies to assistants, with minimal requirements for personnel data. Therefore, it is not easy for them to get caught if they embezzle funds by such means.
The Ministry of the Interior last year conducted a review of the subsidy system for assistant employment, hoping to curb embezzlement by councilors, but the legislative amendments that the ministry proposed mostly focused on subsidy limits and verification methods.
However, the key lies in how to prevent councilors from turning their jurisdictions into hotbeds of corruption.
The application for assistant fees is not monitored, so it is difficult to catch councilors who are embezzling funds in the names of their relatives and friends.
Given how little an assistant subsidy provides and the lack of monitoring, it is no wonder that some councilors are not even aware that they are breaking the law.
By the time investigations are launched, a councilor might have already embezzled more than NT$1 million, or even NT$10 million.
They not only stole taxpayers’ money, but also crowded out monthly wages of real assistants and hurt the quality of their services.
Therefore, amendments proposed by the ministry should be based on the premise of openness and transparency, and they should require councilors to disclose information about their assistants — including their names, titles and salaries.
After all, the primary goal of most elected representatives is to win re-election, and their supporters and rivals would watch closely to see whether the information they provide is accurate.
Wu Hsiang-chun is chairwoman of the Taiwan City Council Assistant Industrial Labor Union.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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