With the National Women’s League on the brink of missing the deadline to clarify what it did with an estimated NT$349.81 billion (US$11.47 billion) in missing charitable donations, the Ministry of the Interior yesterday said it might grant the organization some more time.
From 1955 to 1989, taxes and surcharges valued at an estimated NT$24 billion at the time — worth NT$349.81 billion today — were funneled to the league, nominally as charitable funds for military veterans.
Following the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee’s demands in April that the league explain what happened to the funds, the ministry on June 13 ordered the league to turn over all its financial records relating to the funds.
Photo: Cheng Hung-ta, Taipei Times
Failure to meet the deadline, set to expire at midnight yesterday, would trigger severe consequences for the league, including the removal of its leadership, the ministry said at the time.
However, the ministry yesterday appeared to have softened its stance, with the league showing no sign that it would be able to comply with its demands as of press time last night.
The ministry’s Director of Civil Affairs Lin Ching-chi (林清淇) said the league has been acting in good faith and the ministry would not let “stiff bureaucratic formality” get in the way of “solving the problem.”
“There would be a period of flexibility to account for the time requirements of operations,” Lin said, adding that the ministry might not seek to impose penalties immediately if the deadline is missed.
The ministry understands that the league is having difficulties and hopes the issue can be solved smoothly, but if the league fails to fulfill its promises, the ministry would still impose all due penalties, Lin said.
Separately yesterday, Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮) in Miaoli County said the ministry has communicated with the league and hopes it responds to the demands, adding that the deadline had not yet passed.
Previously, the party assets committee said its investigations showed that the league had enjoyed privileges that were not available to ordinary civic foundations.
The preferential treatment the league received included having taxes and surcharges placed in its coffers and being exempt from 1956 stamp duties or the obligation to turn in financial statements when receiving donations, the committee said.
Additional reporting by Yang Chun-hui
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS