Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma declined to answer questions on the scandal, which has implicated at least 127 employees who are suspected of tampering with EasyCard records to allow free travel.
Ma said only that he would report on the matter to Taipei City councilors this Friday.
Taipei City Government held a conference on Monday to discuss the corporation's report on the affair that will be presented to the council.
According to a Chinese-language newspaper report, Ma was unsatisfied with the draft the TRTC provided.
He was quoted as saying it was "unclear" and "lacked reflection."
Ma was also quoted as saying that if the public and city councilors could not accept the TRTC report, he would not be able to "protect anyone any longer."
City government spokesman Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), however, said that no such language was used.
He said Ma did not talk about anything relating to punishment at Monday's conference.
On the contrary, he said, Ma expressed the view that the scandal illustrated Tsay's spontaneity and sense of responsibility.
"The mayor also thought that if he punished the city heads who had voluntarily investigated the [behavior of TRTC staff], it would prevent them from doing the responsible thing in future," Wu said.
People First Party Councilor Huang Shan-shan (
Huang said Tsay had committed a number of mistakes since he became TRTC president in January last year.
These were alleged to include mistakes in handling of personnel, the procurement of machinery and the corporation's response to a series of MRT accidents.
"When Tsay learned about the scam, he attempted to cover up the whole thing, and didn't report straight away to Ma," Huang said.
"This exposed his poor management and the systemic problems at the TRTC," she said.
She said that she would ask Ma during Friday's interpellation session to remove Tsay and punish the employees in question without mercy.
She also said she would demand the TRTC improve its operation of the EasyCard system and improve management of personnel.
After the TRTC scandal emerged, Ma punished Tsay with a demerit and issued a verbal warning to TRTC chairman Richard Chen (
This however was criticized by city councilors as being "too lenient."
Democratic Progressive Party City Councilor Wang Shih-chien (
Wang also said that he had no sympathy for employees who had asked to be treated leniently based on the fact that they were still young and had turned themselves in.
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