By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Huang Wen-ling (黃文玲) yesterday accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of a lack of transparency in its political donations and said that Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) had been involved in a remittance of NT$600 million (US$20 million) in 2012.
Huang made the allegations at a press conference called to urge the Ministry of Justice to draft an anti-corruption law governing political party and civil associations.
The KMT submitted to the Control Yuan in 2012 a false declaration of their political donations for the presidential election, Huang said.
According to a report published by the Control Yuan in July 2012, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) received NT$446 million in donations in the presidential election earlier that year, about NT$240 million of which they stated was given by the party, Huang said.
However, in its spending report, the KMT said its provision of funding to its party members in election campaigns was NT$87.3 million in 2011 and NT$52 million in 2012, or NT$193 million over the two years, Huang said.
The discrepancy suggested there might be irregularities in its declaration, she said.
Huang cited unnamed sources as saying that King, who was serving as the KMT’s head of international affairs, remitted NT$600 million out of the country for the purpose of “party diplomacy” two months before he was appointed to the position in November 2012.
“Where did the money come from, was King given full authority over its uses and most importantly, what was it used for?” Huang asked.
The KMT and King need to provide a clear explanation on this issue, and the Ministry of Justice should also launch an investigation into the matter, Huang said.
She also criticized Ma for reneging on his promise to put the KMT’s assets into trust.
An act on preventing corruption among political parties and civil associations should be deliberated in the legislature along with the draft bills on whistle-blower protection and corporate anti-corruption, Huang said.
Lin Teh-jui (林德瑞), director of the KMT’s Administration Committee, said the party’s expenditure record and Ma’s presidential campaign spending report had been scrutinized many times before and have always been transparent, adding that the King accusation was groundless.
Huang’s accusation was fabricated and ridiculous, deputy director of the KMT’s Culture and Communications Committee Yin Wei (殷瑋) said.
Yin said that lawmakers were exploiting their immunity by making groundless accusations without sufficient evidence.
Additional reporting by Jake Chung and Shih Hsiu-chuan