He doesn’t need to publicly declare it. I don’t need to know.
But surely there must be someone in the ROC government or military other than his wife and his wife’s classmate that can be trusted with information on how these funds were spent.
Well, if you want to blame someone, blame all those before him, because, sorry to say to you, CSB used standard procedure. If anyone wants to dig really into this, they will have to dig until Chiang the IInd. And all of them will have to go to jail - that is, if you want to be “correct”.
Problem is, before you start accusing someone of wrongdoing, shouldn’t you be the first to give the example (hello Ma). Second problem is, there is no example, only procedural followings. You do what your ancestors did, because no one ever said they where doing wrong. Negligence is not proof of innocence, but not to give proper rules to follow is something that the prosecutors should be worried about. They have to give people the proper rules and explain how to follow them. Otherwise, messes like these will be always happening.
So, CSB didn’t want (or didn’t have how) to explain some Millions NTD, so he just used an invoice totally unrelated. Face it, everyone does it.
I’m not sure how many times I have to repeat this before it registers, but I’ll accomodate.
He did use false invoices, which in my opinion should absolutely be criminal action that needs to be stopped… Blue (Ma) or Green (Chen). But if this practice is truly widespread and would likely require the imprisonment/resignation of every ROC elected official, than practically speaking, obviously the right solution is to implement reform and improve this situation. That’s something the ROC government should pursue immediately.
CSB also did more than use false receipts. He lied to the government prosecutor. He manufactured the identity of a man that he said secret funds were delivered to. He manufactured dates/times when funds were sent to this man. The prosecutor, through his own detective work, had to prove all of this himself. CSB’s indicted co-conspirators have confessed to this scheme.
Then throw him to rot in jail, along with Ma, Song, Lien and the guy who opened the vesp nest that should be in jail a long time ago.
Michael Turton suggests every Taiwanese politician would be thrown in jail on the basis of falsifying invoices. Fine, let’s forgive that for now and improve the accounting system so that the problem goes away. (A little more important of an issue than making houses in Taipei more “green”, if you ask me.)
Let’s instead just throw people in prison for lying to government prosecutors, and obstructing a legal investigation.
Ma transferred HALF of his slush-fund into his private account. That is really a greedy way to unrightfull enrich himself from the tax-payers’ money.
Personally, I am not too upset about the un-related receipts used to cover expences where no receipt were issued.
That the president creates a smoke-screen to protect secret missions and expences from being known is understandable.
The good thing about this whole affair is that (hopefully) there will be an end to all slush funds, or at least that each NTD has to be accounted for.
Hi,
Well that’s the rub isn’t it, not having to declare the purpose of a fund doesn’t automatically mean its yours. My wife who reads the chinese print news indicated to me that Ma who quoted as saying that he declares this money as income (assets) to the Government body that overseas assets owned by Politicians. Apparently it was ok to claim the money as income because he paid tax on it.
Putting aside the bit that the 50% of the fund which needs receipts could be explained with the archived receipts stored in the basement. How can Ma claim no wrong by claiming Government funding as his personal income and have the balls to use part of the same said funds to pay his tax?
I don’t watch Taiwan TV, so can anyone confirm that this is exactly what Ma said, that he reports to the asset watchdog that the funds that are deposited into his account are claimed as income and he pays tax on it?
Regards
Michael
He should be surprised at his own moderation 
It now looks like the whole of Mayor Ma’s office is in on it, chipping in their shares of large sum receipts. A receipt pool going on there, and Mayor Ma of course didnt know a thing. While the prosecution only tags the clerk for main culprit and the director of Ma’s office resigns in Ma’s stead. Obviously when Ma says he will take responsibility for the lapse in supervision, he means his supervision extends only to his office director. Delegation in practise. 
What you where expecting. For god sake, he is the man, the saviour of the poor Taiwanese mislead in the wrong way.
Apparently some people are so taken with him that they re willing to sacrifice for this “saviour”. 
Let’s face it, this “Receipt Corruption” or “Creative Accounting” is more endemic than anybody knows. I have a Taiwanese friend who is the financial controller of a ‘part of northern Taiwan’ government (sorry, don’t want to be specific here…). He’s a good guy and was apalled at all the creative accounting going on. Practices such as:
- Having vendors inflate receipts for gov’t purchases and collect the kickbacks from the vendors.
- Creating phony bids to make it look as if the selected bid is the lowest in an open competition.
etc, etc, etc,
He set out to clean it up but started running into problems as he started cutting into peoples’ personal income. They told him he was new here and didn’t understand how things worked (this just means it goes back to previous administrations…). He was actually scared that something would happen to him or his family if he pushed the issue too hard.
My wife works at a university and even the office folks seem to have under the table arrangements with vendors for everything from lunch boxes to office supplies. Recently, they purchased flash disks for the office and negotiated to get some extras free for peronal use rather than asking for a lower price on the original ones. And this is only at the office supply level - the stakes get higher the more money you control.
Don’t fool yourself. This goes way past politics down to the fabric of the culture. I was pissed at A-Bian when the indictments first came out but the subsequent events lead right back to what I already knew about creative accounting practices here. Bottom line - rather than prosecuting and deposing clean up the damn systems that allow this to go on.
It makes me wonder if Chen’s plan all along was to clean out the system on the high end. He knew the blues were determined to get him one way or another, so he leaves a trail of crumbs, knowing he can cling to his immunity if need be while all the top level slush funds get scrutinized.
The big payoff would be taking Ma down, for he personally is the biggest threat to a DPP victory in 2008. Remember, the DPP and Chen were supposedly in a downward skid in 2004 when 50% of voters supported Chen, up from 36% or something in 2000.
If Chen knew Ma was skimming, and knew there was an all-out move against him, this wouldn’t be such an illogical plan. Especially since there seems to be no opening for the DPP to pursue legislative progress due to the haemorrhage of blue blood in the legislature.
Interesting days…
[quote=“dearpeter”]It makes me wonder if Chen’s plan all along was to clean out the system on the high end. He knew the blues were determined to get him one way or another, so he leaves a trail of crumbs, knowing he can cling to his immunity if need be while all the top level slush funds get scrutinized. /quote]
Personally, I don’t think it’s that complicated. It’s more like - there’s already a system in place that provides easy money for this and that and the accounting portion is just a gray area - hence the convenience. So, what’s the incentive to change it?
That’s the problem I have with A-Bian is that if he was truly a reformist as he portrayed himself he could have made it a point to clean up the system rather than milking it just because people before him did and others still do. That’s why people, including myself, are disappointed in him. However, unlike some I don’t translate disappointment into a riot to depose him because I know the next elections will solve that problem. And will also likely make cleaning up this accounting mess a campaign promise for candidates. That’s the power of democracy…
I dont know if its a grand DPP scheme; but its looking more and more like a war of attrition to me.
The good mayor of Taipei has put the option of resignation(at the instance of indictment) on the table. taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_c … &cate_rss=
This either could mean he knows he wont be indicted, or possibly a challenge to the other camp; hes not waiting for trial and conviction.
And of course the KMT are escalating the whole farce by calling for investigation of all central government officials, especially the top DPP office holders. And within the KMT it also seems there are members who may share with the DPP in rejoicing at Ma’s possible resignation. Were the recent suggestion of a third attempt by L ien C hen 
in 2008 just harmless booze talk?
[quote]The leader of a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) subgroup in the legislature yesterday downplayed previous remarks calling for “collective leadership” within the party following Chairman Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) political crisis in connection with the handling of a mayoral expense fund…
Ko said he brought up the idea of “collective leadership” during a dinner gathering with Lien on Monday night, and his legislative aide “took his words too seriously.”
He said the aide sent out the document without his knowledge…
After the dinner on Monday night, Chang Chang-tsai (張昌財), a member of the group, said the group had suggested Lien run in the 2008 presidential election with Wang as his vice president.[/quote]
taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003336678
That certainly makes it interesting to speculate on how the DPP legislators acquired so many insiders within the Taipei City Government willing to dish the dirt on their boss all of a sudden.
[quote=“one man riot”]The good mayor of Taipei has put the option of resignation(at the instance of indictment) on the table. [/quote] Yeah, he’s just trying to go one up on A-Bian portraying himself as more honorable. Plus, I’m sure he’d like to dump the mayoral work load so he could concentrate on his presidential election. As it is, he seems to be spread too thin being the KMT boss plus the mayor to do a good job at either. Throw in his 2008 campaign and he’ll really be struggling…
The plot thickens:
taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_c … ?id=321274
[quote]Uproar over misuse of funds escalates
By Crystal Hsu
Taiwan News, Staff Reporter , Agencies
…
Wang Yung-hsin, spokesman of the audit ministry that is responsible for auditing accounts of government agencies, said all public funds should be used on public purposes and failure to do so may constitute corruption.
Wang, who asserted in July that Ma had observed the rules when using a special mayoral fund, offered an apology for failing to detect any irregularities during the ministry’s probe into the matter.
He apologized to DPP Legislator Wang Shih-chien in particular for accusing him of seeking to give the ministry a hard time because it refused to cooperate and challenge Ma’s integrity.
“I could have used more prudence and humility when returning questions raised by Wang,” Wang Yung-hsin said. “I’m not in a position to judge if Ma is guilty of any crime, but all government officials should return to state coffers any surplus funds allocated to them for public functions.”[/quote]
But the article contains no mention of the claims the some Ministry of Audit officials took bribes from the Mayor’s office to encourage them to certify the fishy filing. But I swear, I did hear that on the FTV English News Thursday night.
In the same story, it seems Vice-president Lu is getting props from all sides. How ironic.
[quote]Su said he shared Vice President Annette Lu’s (呂秀蓮) observation that the controversy surrounding President Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) “state affairs fund” and Ma’s special allowance are both parts of the legacy of the “transition syndrome,” or the belief that the auditing and checking of the fund should extend to all who have access to similar allowances.
…
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said that he agreed with Lu’s view that all questionable funds should be subject to investigation.[/quote]
[quote=“X3M”]Ma transferred HALF of his slush-fund into his private account. That is really a greedy way to unrightfull enrich himself from the tax-payers’ money.
Personally, I am not too upset about the un-related receipts used to cover expences where no receipt were issued.
That the president creates a smoke-screen to protect secret missions and expences from being known is understandable.
The good thing about this whole affair is that (hopefully) there will be an end to all slush funds, or at least that each NTD has to be accounted for.[/quote]
I agree totally with all four statements here. :bravo:
If the Mayoral fund requires receipts, then it must be money meant for public use, otherwise there would be no accontability requirements at all. So how in the heck can Ma transfer hlf of it to his personal account?
And why are the greens allowing Ma to paint the issue as one of forging receipts, when it is obviously a simpler – black and white really – question of simple ethics. If the money were meant for the Mayor’s personal account, it would be given to him as salary, not as an account that required receipts.
[edit] To answer my own question, it looks like many of the greens are scared the inquisition will be coming for them too, so they prefer to focus on the “clerical errors.”
This also happened on Thursday, though the article didnt say ‘bribes’. But the same legislator you saw?
If fake invoices didn’t do CSB in, they won’t do Ma in either.
At least Ma didn’t lie about his.
This is getting real tired.