KMT and TPP caucuses slam the Control Yuan
By Lin Hsin-han, Chen Chih-chen and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writer
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on Wednesday accused the Control Yuan of halting the publication of civil servant property disclosures, while the watchdog blamed the stoppage on a lack of appointed members.
Writing in separate releases, the KMT and TPP caucuses accused the Control Yuan of stopping the publication of public disclosures in a bid to shield corrupt Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) officials.
The parties alleged that the Control Yuan suspended the publication to protect Overseas Community Affairs Council Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青), who it recently fined NT$100,000 for allowing her son to join a council-founded youth camp on the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島).
The entrance to the Control Yuan in Taipei is pictured in an undated photograph.
Photo: Taipei Times
Since taking office five years ago, Hsu made 47 trips abroad for a total of 536 days, costing taxpayers NT$23 million (US$724,295), the KMT caucus said.
The Control Yuan in a news release said that it lacks legal authority to report on cases of corruption, as the legislature has not approved any new members to the constitutional branch of government.
It said the statements from the opposition parties are untruthful as the disclosure gazettes themselves are still being printed.
The gazette is a routine part of the Control Yuan’s operations, which is not affected by its lack of duly appointed members, the KMT caucus said.
“The Control Yuan was highly efficient in targeting [former] TPP chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), but now excuses itself for not being staffed,” the caucus added.
The different treatment of Hsu and Ko shows that the body has a double standard benefitting DPP officials, it said, demanding that the gazette’s publication be resumed within the week.
The TPP caucus said that the lack of members did not affect the Control Yuan’s freezing of Ko’s assets.
The Control Yuan said that laws and regulations stipulate members must formally censure an official before the matter can be published in the gazette.
The Control Yuan has no members authorized to enable this process at the moment, it said.
The branch is legally designated to be in charge of enforcing the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法) and Recusal of Public Servants Due to Conflicts of Interest Act (公職人員利益衝突迴避法), which means it does not need appointed members to investigate Ko, it said.
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