Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that he bears most of the responsibility for financial scandals surrounding the party’s presidential campaign.
The party would hold a news conference this week to explain the situation, Ko said.
The TPP has faced questions over apparent discrepancies in the party’s reported income and expenditure.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
On Tuesday, the TPP Central Review Committee expelled accountant Tuanmu Cheng (端木正), a party member hired to manage the campaign’s finances and report them to the Control Yuan, and Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗), the campaign’s chief financial officer.
The committee also suspended TPP Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), who was Ko’s campaign manager, from her party positions.
Ko on Friday wrote on Facebook that the problems over reporting the party’s political donations have seriously damaged its image.
The TPP depended on small donations and the passion of supporters to contest January’s election, he wrote.
It was a surprise to discover that Lee had outsourced all of the campaign’s accounting work and that there was no auditing mechanism, Ko wrote, adding that this is what caused the mistakes.
“I had always said to ‘trust systems, not individuals,’ but this time I did not implement a financial supervisory mechanism and instead trusted a classmate who I have known for 50 years, which is something I need to deeply reflect on,” Ko said, referring to Lee.
The party has finished checking nearly 80 percent of the financial records, he said, adding that on Friday morning it sent an official letter to the Taipei Certified Public Accountant Association asking it to appoint an accountant to help attest the audit report.
However, critics said that Ko was shifting all the responsibility onto Lee.
Ko yesterday said that the situation was not the fault of one person alone and so far the investigation has shown no evidence that the donations ended up in anyone’s “private pockets.”
“I am the leader, so of course I should bear the most responsibility,” he said. “We will hold a news conference next week to give a complete explanation. I will not hide” from the responsibility.
Asked whether Huang would resign as legislator, Ko said that she was not in charge of the financial aspects of his presidential election campaign, but of course she has political responsibility that she cannot avoid.
She would do her part to resolve the situation and the party would discuss the next step when that work is completed, he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS