People First Party (PFP) lawmakers asked the Control Yuan yesterday to see that Premier Yu Shyi-kun, Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
Control Yuan members Chan Yi-chang (詹益彰) and Kuo Shih-chi (郭石吉) pledged to investigate possible punishment after the Control Yuan released a report yesterday finding the allegations to have been false.
PFP lawmakers Hsieh Chang-chieh (謝章捷) and Hsu Yuan-kuo (許淵國) -- accompanied by party lawyers Philip Chou (周國代) and Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊), who is also a PFP Taipei City councilor -- said that Yu, Chen and Lin should be held accountable for wrongfully accusing Soong of violating the Budget Law (公民投票法), wasting taxpayers' money and corruption.
"The investigation report released by the Control Yuan today proved that their allegation was nothing but a bogus charge and a big lie," Hsieh said. "To protect Soong's reputation, we'd like to see the government watchdog correct their abuse of power and lodging of a false allegation against a vice presidential candidate."
Hsu said the government watchdog was obligated to take disciplinary action against irresponsible civil servants who make false allegations.
During a board meeting of an association based in his hometown of Ilan County in October last year, Yu, who served as Ilan County commissioner from 1989 to 1997, accused Soong of "dirty tricks" while serving as provincial governor between 1993 and 1998.
"We found out that the so-called achievements Soong claimed during his stint turned out to be nothing but a big lie and a dirty trick," Yu said last year. "As the highest administrative officer in the nation, I'm now forced to wipe his ass after he had done so little to realize his empty promises."
Citing the example of a dredging project in Ilan County's Lotung township, Yu had said that the township requested NT$5 million from the provincial government in 1997 but was later granted NT$40 million.
"I'm not saying that the [provincial] government shouldn't grant local governments more than they asked for, but it shouldn't have wasted tax dollars like this," he said.
Yu encouraged the media to verify his accusation by checking the county's annual budget plan or with Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
Chinese Nationalist Party legislative whip Liao Fung-te (
According to the investigation report, the allegation made by Yu and Chen was false because the NT$50 million was allocated for the dredging of a township drainage ditch spanning 2,300m rather than the original plan proposed by the township to dredge only 400m.
Commenting on the report, Soong said he was glad the Control Yuan had vindicated his reputation, while Lin said that Yu was merely "stating the truth."
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