Four prominent Democratic Pro-gressive Party (DPP) politicians will soon face investigations into their special expense funds, a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmaker said yesterday, on the eve of Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) being questioned over alleged misuse of his special mayoral expense fund.
KMT Legislator Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) said he had asked prosecutors to question Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun and former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) -- the DPP's Taipei mayoral candidate -- as soon as possible.
KMT lawmakers filed a lawsuit against the four DPP politicians after Ma was accused by DPP lawmakers of using his special mayoral fund to pay for a physical exam and fees to adopt a dog.
The DPP lawmakers have also accused Ma of embezzling half of his monthly stipend of NT$170,000 each month by depositing the money into his personal bank account and including it as part of his salary when he declared his assets to the Control Yuan.
Prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen (侯寬仁) is handling the Ma probe, while prosecutor Eric Chen (陳瑞仁), who has been investigating President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "state affairs fund" case, will handle the probe of the four DPP members.
Hou and Eric Chen are both prosecutors with the Black Gold Investigation Center of the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office.
"The reason that Ma is to be questioned and the four DPP members are not is that Eric Chen is still tied up with the state affairs fund case, but we suggest that the two cases should be dealt with by the same prosecutor," Tseng said. "Now that Eric Chen has announced the indictment involving the `state affairs fund,' he should investigate the allegations against the four DPP members."
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) accused a group of KMT lawmakers of trying to pressure prosecutors probing a corruption allegation against Hsieh in connection with the Kaohsiung Mass Rapid Transit project.
"A group of KMT lawmakers led by Tseng visited the prosecutors' office in Kaohsiung yesterday and demanded the prosecutors indict Hsieh," Ker said.
Tseng said the lawmakers had gone to express their support for the prosecutors' probe into electoral bribery allegations.
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