Lawmakers yesterday demanded that prosecutors indict Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on charges of corruption on the same basis they used to charge first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) over the handling of a "state affairs fund."
"We respect the judiciary, but we call on prosecutors to apply the same standards regardless of partisanship when they investigate any political figure," Democratic Progressive Party Legislator William Lai (賴清德) told a press conference.
Ma has been accused of embezzling half of his special monthly mayoral allowance of NT$170,000 (US$5,162), with DPP lawmakers saying that Ma deposits the money into his personal account every month and counts the money as his salary.
While the allegations against Ma have been under investigation by prosecutors, Ma said in an interview with CTI TV on Sept. 7 that he counts the mayoral allowance paid into his account as his income when he declares his assets to the Control Yuan.
In Wu's indictment, prosecutors disregarded Chen's explanation that a certain amount of money Wu had reimbursed from the "state affairs fund" was used to cover expenses he incurred afterwards for diplomatic missions, saying that the first lady had committed fraud when she took the money.
"The same standard should be applied in the case of Ma. Ma should also be regarded as committing fraud when his special allowance is remitted into his account," Lai said.
Pan-blue lawmakers said there was no comparison between Chen's state fund and Ma's special mayoral allowance due to their different nature.
But DPP Legislator Hsieh Hsin-ni (謝欣霓) said that half of the president's state fund was similar in nature to the mayoral allowance.
Prosecutors also indicted Wu for corruption because she had sought reimbursement from the state fund for personal accessories such as a diamond ring that was valued at NT$1.32 million and a scarf valued at NT$150,000, among others, according to Wu's indictment sheet.
Chen said that he did present some items to his wife as gifts, the indictment said.
"If it is illegal for the president to give his wife gifts using the state fund, then it is also illegal for Ma to pay half of his special mayoral allowance into his personal bank account," Hsieh said.
SPEEDING ELETRIC VEHICLES: Available without license requirements, the low-cost vehicles, especially if illicitly modified, can often reach a dangerous speed The government should crack down on illegal electric bicycles and scooters, the non-profit Consumers’ Foundation said on Friday, citing research on the potentially dangerous speed of the vehicles. Electric bicycles and lightweight electric scooters have gained popularity as they do not require registration and riders do not need licenses, the foundation said, adding that as many as 40 percent of them can reach speeds exceeding the legal limit of 25kph for non-licensed two-wheelers. Some consumers also purchased legal electric vehicles and modified them to reach higher speeds, it said. “If the government does not step up efforts to confiscate these
DIPLOMATIC MOVES: Beijing is reportedly pressing the state after reports of forming links with Taiwan, while the ministry is also planning to reopen its office in Guam soon A representative office is set to open in Somaliland at the end of this month, at the earliest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday amid reports that Beijing is sending a diplomatic delegation to the east African country. The ministry on July 1 announced that Taiwan and Somaliland would establish representative offices, following a report by the Somaliland Chronicle Web site. It said at the time that the two nations did not plan to establish formal ties. Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi has instructed close confidants to explore the possibility of “mutual recognition between Taiwan and Somaliland,” the Somaliland Chronicle reported
A Belgian man who tested positive for COVID-19 in Taiwan last week is likely to have contracted the disease in Taipei in late June, National Taiwan University (NTU) College of Public Health vice dean Tony Chen (陳秀熙) said yesterday. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Saturday reported that the man, who is in his 20s, came to Taiwan for work on May 3 and tested positive on Wednesday last week as he was about to depart. The man in March reported loss of taste and smell, the center said, adding that he worked in Changhua County, but visited Taipei several times,
NEW CASE REPORTED: A man who returned from South Africa on a flight with the nation’s 460th and 461st cases has now tested positive for the disease The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday said that there is no need to test all arrivals to the nation for COVID-19, a policy the Executive Yuan supports. The center reported one new imported case, bringing the nation’s tally of confirmed cases to 477. The new case is a Taiwanese man in his 60s who on July 25 returned from South Africa, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is also the CECC’s spokesman. The man had returned to Taiwan on the same flight as cases Nos. 460 and 461, reported on July 27, Chuang said. On July 24,
RSS