Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), cleared of suspicion of misusing his special allowance fund on Friday, vowed yesterday to grant amnesty to all government officials whose special allowance fund expenditure is under judicial investigation if elected next year.
"If the political wrangling concerning special allowance funds continues, more than 6,500 public officials may be involved in the investigations ... it may take five years for all of the cases to be concluded," Hsieh told a press conference in Taipei.
Judicial resources and civic capital would also be consumed by the trials following the investigations, Hsieh said.
"Many people, including me, are very worried that our judicial system will be paralyzed if the investigations continue," he said. "If our government chiefs and political and administrative elite fall victim to the mechanism and become criminal suspects, we should review past administrative conventions and the [special allowance] reimbursement process."
On Friday, DPP Chairman Yu Shyi-kun, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) and National Security Council Secretary-General Mark Chen (陳唐山) were indicted for allegedly misusing their special allowance funds and for forgery.
Hsieh and his running mate, Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), were cleared.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office on Friday alleged that Lu used 1,005 fraudulent receipts, adding up to NT$5.6 million (US$170,000) to claim reimbursements from her special allowance fund between December 2000 and May last year.
Prosecutors said Yu used 516 fraudulent receipts collected by his wife, Yang Pao-yu (楊寶玉), to claim NT$2.3 million in reimbursements from his special allowance fund between October 2000 and December 2005 during his time as secretary-general of the presidential office and as premier. Yang was indicted on charges of forgery.
Mark Chen used 106 receipts received from others to claim NT$368,000 between July 2004 and June last year while serving as minister of foreign affairs and the secretary-general of the presidential office, prosecutors said.
The charges against the DPP trio are similar in nature to those leveled at Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who on Feb. 13 was indicted on corruption charges for allegedly embezzling NT$11 million from his special allowance fund during his eight years as Taipei mayor.
The District Court found Ma not guilty of those charges on Aug. 14, a ruling which is being appealed by prosecutors.
According to the nation's administrative system, government chiefs are given special allowance funds, the amount of which varies according to their position.
Reimbursement of half of the fund requires receipts, while government chiefs can claim the other half of the fund without needing to produce receipts.
"Many [special allowance fund] lawsuits have been filed as a result of political wrangling during this period. No matter whether the defendants are `blue' or `green,' I am willing to solve the [systemic] problem with political wisdom," Hsieh said yesterday.
In response to Hsieh, Ma yesterday said an amnesty was a passive solution to the special allowance dispute.
Ma urged prosecutors to reach a consensus and give a universal interpretation on the nature and use of government officials' special allowance funds.
"The pan-blue and the pan-green camps have both accused prosecutors of applying different standards in handling the cases. I think the prosecutors should respond to the questions and give the public a persuasive explanation," Ma said in Taipei when asked for comment.
Ma called on prosecutors to hold a meeting to discuss legal aspects of the special allowance funds and reach a consensus on standards when handling the cases.
"Government officials should not take the responsibility for the systematic flaws in the special allowance fund system, and judicial resources should not be wasted on these cases either," he said.
Seeking to brush aside the special allowance fund dispute, Ma said that people cared more about government ethics and the integrity of government officials and pledged to put greater effort into establishing a clean government if elected president.
DOUBLE ROLE
Meanwhile, in a related development, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday urged President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to double as party chairman after Yu expressed his intention to resign from the position.
Yu, who left for Canada on Thursday, faxed his intended resignation to DPP headquarters late on Friday night.
Yu stressed his innocence and said he would officially resign after the party's 21st anniversary and national congress which are scheduled for the end of this month.
"We believe only by having the president to fill in as the chairman can the party be united and integrated as soon as possible," Ker said. "This may be an unavoidable responsibility for the president."
REGULATIONS
The president has the qualifications to assume the party's chairmanship, but if he were to turn down the opportunity, the position should be filled by a member of the DPP's Central Executive Committee, the party's regulations state.
Chen Shui-bian has not yet decided whether to take over the role.
Presidential Office Spokesman David Lee (李南陽) said yesterday that the president believed it was a party affair and that the party's Central Executive Committee could properly handle the matter.
Chen Shui-bian, accompanied by Lu in Taoyuan County yesterday, told reporters he was as surprised as anybody at the indictments of Yu, Lu and Mark Chen.
FULL CONFIDENCE
The president said he had full confidence in the trio and believed they had not embezzled money or done anything illegal.
Nor would he lose his trust in them because of the indictments, he said.
No one knows how far the fire ignited by the special allowance fund and state affairs fund cases will spread, he said.
"This is a very serious and important issue," he said. "I am calling on my fellow countrymen to be calm and refrain from taking pleasure in other people's misfortune."
Lu dismissed the prosecutors' accusation yesterday that she had instructed her secretary to collect receipts to be used to claim reimbursements from the fund.
Saying that she and President Chen took the initiative to halve their monthly salaries not long after they were elected in 2000, Lu added she would not steal NT$5 million as prosecutors have claimed.
QUESTIONS
Describing the prosecutors as "vile," Lu said she was curious to know why they did not believe her testimony and why they claimed in the indictment statement that she knew her secretary had collected fake receipts for her.
Lu also questioned the timing of the indictment, saying that she wanted to know why prosecutors picked the long Mid-Autumn Festival weekend to issue the indictments and why they delayed their press conference from 2pm to 7pm on Friday.
Asked whether she would take any political action following Yu's resignation, Lu said it was not necessary.
Commenting on Hsieh's remark that he would grant them amnesty if he were elected president, Lu said that would be too late.
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