Members of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee yesterday approved a motion to set up a task force to look into the Cabinet’s undertaking of the planned electronic identification card (eID) system and to inquire about possible misconduct by government officials.
Introduced by the Ministry of the Interior in 2018, the eID project aimed to replace existing national ID cards and Citizen Digital Certificates. It was suspended in 2021 after civil society groups and human rights activists raised concerns about possible privacy violations and security risks.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) said that the ministry had spent more than NT$1.41 billion (US$44.54 million) on the project, including a current budget item for NT$280 million, which is the agreed upon figure for compensating contractors for not proceeding with the system.
Photo: screen grab from Ministry of the Interior Web site
Minister of the Interior Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) defended the payouts.
“This amount for compensation is the best result for taxpayers... We had negotiated with the contractors over the past two years. In mediation, they at first demanded NT$1 billion for compensation, under the terms of the signed agreement, but we negotiated it down to NT$280 million,” Lin said.
Hsu and other KMT lawmakers questioned the finances, saying that the ministry still included NT$63.75 million in this year’s fiscal budget for the project.
Lin said the funds were allocated for repairs and the servicing of equipment that had been originally intended for eID production at the main contractor, state-owned Central Engraving and Printing Plant, which is the state mint under the central bank for printing banknotes.
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