Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Deputy Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) yesterday denied a Mirror Media report alleging that he was ousted from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation for being embroiled in improper dealings in China.
Hsiao was the chief executive officer at former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) foundation until last month.
Citing anonymous sources, the tabloid said that Ma “became aware that certain people have been using the name of his office in recent years to do things that he would find improper.”
Photo: CNA
In response, Ma authorized his aide-de-camp and former National Security Council secretary-general King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) to dismiss Hsiao and Wang Kuang-tzu (王光慈) from the foundation, the outlet said.
Wang and Hsiao had served as the director and deputy director of Ma’s presidential office.
The report came following a flurry of statements from Ma’s social media, which on March 16 announced Hsiao’s departure from the foundation, and then on March 23 accused Hsiao and Wang of “severe lapses in fiduciary discipline.”
Hsiao told a news conference that he had declined to address the allegations out of a desire to protect KMT Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) from the foundation’s internal problems.
“I am forever grateful to Ma for his tutelage. He has done right by me, so I can tolerate misunderstandings about me to protect Ma and his family,” he said.
“That does not mean I will let anyone take advantage of this to launch a relentless smear campaign against me in an attempt to interfere with the KMT and cross-strait relations,” Hsiao said.
Hsiao said his integrity has been beyond reproach throughout his political career and could not have been involved in matters of fiduciary discipline, since he has never handled the foundation’s finances.
Foundation chief executive officer Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) in a statement on Monday accused “outside critics” of making unfounded speculation about matters that they know nothing about.
Attorneys are exploring legal options to handle the “severe breaches in fiduciary discipline” that had occurred in the foundation, he said.
“We will allow no blame to wrongfully fall on the innocent, or the guilty to escape accountability,” Tai said.
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