Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday apologized to the public for the party’s involvement in the controversial amendment to the Accounting Act (會計法), while DPP headquarters and its legislative caucus launched separate efforts to correct the legislation foul-up.
The amendment, passed at the last minute in closed-door cross-party negotiations on Friday last week before the legislature went into recess, was supposed to exempt research grants given by the government to professors and elected officials’ special allowances from being audited.
However, the word “teaching [faculty]” was missing from the amended act’s Article 99-1, which means professors may still face prosecution.
Photo: CNA
Meanwhile, convicted officials, such as former Non-Partisan Solidarity Union legislator Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), who has been in jail since Feb. 19 after he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for using nearly NT$20 million (US$668,500) in taxpayer money to visit hostess bars, will be released once the amendment is promulgated.
“The DPP has to take responsibility for its role in the legislation, which the general society has found difficult to accept. As [party] chairman, I would like to apologize to the people on behalf of the party,” Su said.
In an effort to correct the mistake, which would require either a veto from the Executive Yuan or a reconsideration by the Legislative Yuan before the president signs it into law, Su met Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) at the Executive Yuan yesterday afternoon and asked Jiang to veto the amendment in accordance with the Constitution. Jiang turned down his request.
According to Executive Yuan spokesperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), Jiang reiterated the Cabinet’s stance that it has no plan to veto the bill.
The regulatory agency of the Accounting Act, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, has made its view on the amendment very clear, that decriminalization could be applied to the use of research budgets by professors, Cheng quoted Jiang as saying.
Meanwhile, DPP lawmakers decided to take the matter into their own hands by proposing a reconsideration.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said at the legislature that she had launched a petition for a reconsideration and should be able to collect the required minimum of 20 signatures to have the proposal discussed in the extra legislative session which is set to begin on Thursday next week.
“If the Executive Yuan refuses to shoulder the responsibility, then the Legislative Yuan should hold itself accountable for the mistake. No matter how the amendment turns out, it shouldn’t be what it looks like now,” she said.
Yeh also called on the Presidential Office to hold off signing the amendment to give the Legislative Yuan ample time to discuss the controversial amendment.
DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), one of the participants in the closed-door meeting that approved the amendment, has come under fire from some pan-green supporters and DPP lawmakers, who said they were never informed about a “secret deal” to free Yen in exchange for stopping the prosecution of professors accused of misusing public grants.
Several DPP local officials urged party headquarters to remove Ker’s position as a legislator-at-large seat, while others called for him to step down as caucus convener.
Former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also urged the DPP to assume responsibility for its mistakes so supporters would keep their faith in the party.
Tsai said the error was more than a “documental mistake” and must be corrected immediately because “there was no point in promulgating the law when everyone knows it is wrong.”
Tsai urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to order the Executive Yuan to submit a veto within 10 days according to Article 3 of the Additional Articles of the Constitution.
Separately, in a pre-recorded interview with Broadcasting Corporation of China which was aired yesterday morning, Jiang reiterated his position that the Executive Yuan would not veto the bill.
A typographical error led to the omission of the word “teaching [faculty],” but this will not affect the application of the amendment to professors, because in the preamble, it is clearly stated that the Accounting Act was revised to include ‘professors’ in the decriminalization package,” Jiang said.
He added that it was not the Executive Yuan’s intent to exclude “professors” from the amendment.
Jiang said the legislature had consulted with the Executive Yuan about the amendment before it went to second and third reading, but apparently, the legislature did not accept the Executive Yuan’s suggestion that exceptions to the decriminalization shall be made to expenditure of public funds for private purposes.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS