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
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
RSS