Only days after President Lee Teng-hui (
The legislators charged however that Soong's use of so-called slush funds to obtain local political support paled beside that of Siew and Lien who, they claimed, controlled a total of NT$39.3 billion in such funds.
The so-called slush funds are monies usually distributed to local-level politicians as budgets for local development. Such budgets are rarely audited.
"The Executive Yuan is now the government organ responsible for granting local projects, and Premier Siew has become the second James Soong," stated DPP legislators Weng Chin-chu (
The legislators added that the battle between Soong and Lien over control of local political forces has only just begun. They said the KMT has already begun to take appropriate steps to consolidate its local political power in preparation for next year's presidential elections.
Such steps, they said, included freezing funds allocated by the provincial government when Soong was in charge of it as well as generously spreading central government money around to localities under the pretense of "increasing domestic demand."
The legislators stressed that kickbacks have become a common practice in government projects. Kickbacks of 20 percent are now considered an "acceptable level of graft," involving both the local government and subcontractors, they said.
"The KMT's criticisms of Soong are nothing but the pot calling the kettle black," the legislators said.
A spokesperson for the Executive Yuan, however, countered the accusations by saying the central government only has control over NT$14.3 billion in slush funds, all of which funds have already been spent, he added.
In a related development, Lin Hui-huang (
Justice Lin filed a charge of bribery against Soong with the Taichung District Prosecutor's Office (
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