Several central and local government bodies were censured by the Control Yuan (監察院) yesterday, for misusing funds intended to assist the handicapped.
Such censure can lead to the impeachment of officials. It means that the Control Yuan informs the relevant government body of errors it has made and orders it to correct its mistakes.
The Committee of Financial and Economic Affairs and the Committee on Internal and Minority Nationality Affairs of the Control Yuan passed the censure motion proposed by Control Yuan members Lin Chu-liang (
"We conducted investigations for the fiscal years 1998, 1999 and 2000. To our astonishment, the money was not used as it should have been," said Lin.
The Bureau of Labor Affairs of the Taipei City Government used the funding to send 18 employees, including the director, to Japan twice on holidays, described as business trips, in January and February, of last year. A required report on the trips was not completed until Nov. 6 last year, raising suspicion.
The entire cost of the two trips, NT$2,063,144, was paid out of the funds for the handicapped.
The labor affairs also held seminars at four and five-star hotels, costing NT$2,454,549 which was also taken from the funds.
Kaohsiung City Government is another of the local governments facing censure. Some of its officials applied to the city's Bureau of Labor Affairs for extra funding for leisure trips described as business trips, also to Japan.
According to the Control Yuan's investigative report, Kaohsiung City Government on one occasion held a meeting to discuss how to allocate the funding to provide work for handicapped people at Wu-huh Farm in Maolin, Kaohsiung County(高雄縣茂林鄉舞鶴農場). The total number of people in attendance was 26. But the labor bureau spent NT$95,418 of the funds on meals and accommodation for 38 people.
The bureau also spent NT$2 million of the funds on sending employees to Japan for two consecutive years. For the fiscal year 2001, NT$1 million from the funds has been budgeted for foreign trips.
"All these government offices were using this funding illegally and improperly. After we started this case, these government offices have shown their sincere desire to cooperate and make progress, especially Taipei City," said Control Yuan member Lin Chu-liang.
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