Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said he would resign from his post as the KMT chairman if he were indicted by prosecutors on corruption charges.
"According to KMT regulations, my party membership will be suspended if I am indicted," Ma said at a municipal event in Beitou.
Ma was referring to the party's "black gold exclusion clause."
Under Ma's chairmanship, the regulations were tightened to impose tougher restrictions on party members and candidates, stating that KMT members would be forced out of the party if indicted.
The old regulations stated that a member could only be suspended if found guilty in a trial.
Ma declined to say whether he would also resign as mayor.
"We will talk about this at a proper time. Right now we are focusing on clarifying the situation as soon as possible," he said later at the city hall.
Ma's eight-year term as Taipei mayor will finish at the end of next month.
Acknowledging that he was "not feeling so great" about the scandal, Ma dismissed the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) accusations that his savings have recently increased rapidly.
"I already made public my savings records, on May 19. The time to declare my property again is in December," Ma said, adding that he would take the opportunity to make public his property at that time.
Ma explained that most of the increase in his property holdings came from his own personal wealth, saying that both he and his wife belong to a high-income group, and have been too busy to spend their money. As such, the two are able to save most of their incomes, he said.
DPP lawmakers yesterday accused Ma of disposing of his assets after he came under suspicion for embezzling public money.
"A staffer of [Taipei] Fubon Bank told me that Ma had sent certain sums of money, each above NT$500,000 (US$15,165), to social groups as personal donations," DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) told a press conference.
DPP lawmakers estimated that Ma might have embezzled some NT$17.65 million from the mayoral special allowance fund by diverting half of the fund, or NT$170,000, into his personal account every month since he assumed office.
"Ma has to explain why he chose to make the donations at this time," she added.
Earlier yesterday, dozens of DPP lawmakers called press conferences one after another attacking irregularities in Ma's use of his mayoral fund.
DPP Legislator Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said Ma didn't dare to disclose the original receipts for the fund as many of them were for his personal use.
"A secret source told me that Ma had sought reimbursement from the public fund for his razor blades. Someone also told me that about 11 high-level city government officials get together every night to collude in false confessions for the irregularities," Hsu said.
Taipei City Government Secretariat Director Lee Shu-te (李述德) later yesterday denied Hsu's claims.
When asked to release copies of the receipts, Lee once again refused.
"If we published the copies, what would the prosecutors think?" he asked.
Meanwhile, Ma told the press last night that he had decided to donate NT$10 million to 11 public welfare groups using part of the money from his special allowance fund that did not require receipts.
"I have donated NT$6 million [yesterday] and will donate NT$4 million on Monday," he said.
Ma said he had donated NT$5 million before, and decided to donate another NT$10 million from his special allowance fund from 2003 to this year.
also see stories:
MOA warns on unused funds
Ma aide details role in receipt fraud
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
RSS