The government is to pay contractors NT$280 million (US$8.87 million) after suspending a digital identification program in 2021, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday.
Asked whether that contradicted his remarks last year that taxpayers would not have to foot the bill after the program was suspended, Chen said the government was able to reduce the payout from the NT$1 billion the contractors originally demanded.
That makes the circumstances different from when he claimed the public would not have to pay for the program, he said.
Photo: screen grab from Ministry of the Interior Web site
The digital identification program is to remain suspended until such time that an independent commission on personal data protection can be established, Chen said.
The commission has to be set up for the government to comply with the Constitutional Court’s ruling that an independent personal data watchdog must be created, he said.
Separately yesterday, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that the government should be held accountable for the loss of taxpayers’ money.
“Making a policy mistake is worse than corruption,” Chu said. “The important thing here is that there has not been an investigation to find the person responsible.”
Additional reporting by Tsai Tsun-hsun
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