The Control Yuan yesterday denied that it was investigating whether the Kaohsiung City Government had funded the city and county chiefs’ invitation of the Dalai Lama to southern Taiwan last year.
“We received a complaint [last year] asking whether local governments misused budgets earmarked for inviting foreign nationals to Taiwan,” Control Yuan Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Hai-chuan (許海泉) told reporters.
However, the Control Yuan referred the complaint to the Ministry of the Interior for an initial investigation because there was no evidence of malfeasance by government agencies or officials, Hsu said, adding that this was standard procedure at the Control Yuan when dealing with public complaints.
“The Control Yuan is not specifically probing the Dalai Lama’s visit,” he said.
ALLEGATIONS
Hsu was responding to allegations by Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑), former adviser to the Kaohsiung City Government, that he made while addressing a rally in Taipei on Sunday to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising.
Liang said the Control Yuan, the Investigation Bureau and the Kaohsiung Prosecutors’ Office had initiated their own investigations into whether the city government spent public funds to invite the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Seven Democratic Progressive Party city and county chiefs issued a joint invitation to the Dalai Lama in August asking him to visit Taiwan to hold religious services for the victims of Typhoon Morakot.
The ministry confirmed on Sept. 20 that it, as the government authority in charge of religious affairs, received a request from the Control Yuan to determine whether government funds were spent to cover the Dalai Lama’s expenses.
POLITICAL
The probe sparked criticism from the pan-green camp, alleging that the move was politically motivated.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said last year that no money from city government coffers was used to sponsor the visit.
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