Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) yesterday requested that party executives offer a public apology for revealing the name of the KMT member who filed a complaint about alleged illicit activities in the KMT Central Standing Committee vote on March 5.
The KMT has been rocked by allegations that Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) bought votes so that he could play a leading role in the party’s decisionmaking body.
“Many people have heard of the vote-buying scandal involving KMT Central Standing Committee members. In my recent trips across Taiwan, everyone I met condemned what had taken place during the vote,” Lo wrote in a post.
Lo said that he was angered that that KMT Disciplinary Committee, led by Legislator Lee Kuei-min (李貴敏), which met to examine the accusations against Fu, revealed that KMT Taipei City Councilor Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) was the one who filed the complaint when making its decision on Monday.
Due to “the KMT’s long-term conservative culture ... it takes a lot of courage and a sense of justice to make an internal party complaint about vote-buying. Hsu was a brave person to do so, but party executives surprised people by publicly announcing that Hsu was the whistle-blower,” Lo said.
Lo then requested that KMT executives to apologize to Hsu.
“Hsu is a valuable treasure for our party. She is willing to point out wrongdoing, so our party should be thankful to her,” Lo said.
Hsu said that the KMT should have a confidentiality clause to protect whistle-blowers.
“It was a surprise to me that the committee revealed that I had filed [the complaint],” Hsu said.
Before the vote, the media had reported on accusations that Fu and other party members had provided benefits in exchange for votes, including banquets, gifts and money.
“Party members had sent me information and evidence on this, so I put it together and sent it to the KMT’s e-mail address to file an official complaint,” Hsu said.
In Monday’s announcement, Lee said that Fu would not be punished, as there was insufficient evidence.
“Some people received inscribed plaques, which were gifts from a local fishery association. Members had received soy sauce bottles, and these were gifts from Hualien County Commissioner Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚),” Lee said.
Hsu Chen-wei is Fu’s wife.
“There were allegations of receiving money in exchange for votes. Fu explained to committee members that he is a well-known national figure and has no need to pay for people to cast ballots for him,” Lee said.
In the March 5 vote, Fu received 1,234 votes — the most among the 29 members of the Central Standing Committee.
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