Tue, Jun 05, 2007 page3

• Committee wants links to KMT-asset probe dropped

  NON-BINDING RESOLUTION The opposition-dominated committee also berated Hsu Chih-hsiung, the head of the government campaign to retrieve the KMT's stolen assets

  • By Ko Shu-ling / STAFF REPORTER
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  A pan-blue dominated legislative committee yesterday passed a non-binding resolution ordering public agencies to immediately remove Web links to a government Web site detailing its campaign to retrieve the Chinese Nationalist Party's (KMT) stolen assets.

  The committee also passed a motion condemning a Cabinet official in charge of the government campaign for failing to show up at the meeting.

  The Organic Laws and Statutes Committee voted five to one in favor of a motion filed by six pan-blue committee members demanding that eight government agencies remove links from their Web pages to the site.

  The eight government agencies are the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Education, the Government Information Office, the Central Personnel Administration, the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission and the Veterans Affairs Commission.

  All other agencies established after passage of the resolution must also comply with the decision, said KMT Legislator Joanna Lei (雷倩), who chaired the meeting yesterday.

  The resolution states that the agencies abuse national resources, violate separation of power between party and administration and tamper with administrative neutrality. It says that retrieving the KMT's party assets is not part of their operations, nor has any budget been earmarked for such a purpose.

  The committee also approved a motion denouncing Hsu Chih- hsiung (許志雄) for violating the Constitution and showing his contempt for the legislature by failing to produce a legitimate reason for missing the meeting yesterday.

  The committee resolved to send Hsu, a minister without portfolio who doubles as minister of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, to the Control Yuan for impeachment proceedings.

  The Control Yuan, however, has been inactive for more than two years because the legislature has refused to confirm any of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) nominees for the oversight body.

  Liu Chien-sin (劉建忻), vice minister of Research, Devolopment and Evaluation Commission, said Hsu's commission told government agencies to link their Web pages to the site they wanted to keep the public informed of the progress of the government initiative to reclaim the KMT's stolen assets.

  In addition to the Web site, the Ministry of Finance formed a task force to probe the issue after the Control Yuan in April 2001 requested government agencies to compile a report regarding KMT's stolen assets that fell under their jurisdiction.

  The Control Yuan also asked the Executive Yuan to conduct a thorough investigation into the KMT's assets to see whether the party had been involved in any irregularities.

  Claiming the issue had nothing to do with the business of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, Lai berated the commission for fawning on the administration by putting up the link but not having the guts to defend doing so.

  People First Party Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) described the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission as "spineless," an "amoeba" and a "weak-legged shrimp."
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