PFP lawmakers
say TSU has received secret funds
2002/01/03
Taipeitimes
By Stephanie Low
STAFF REPORTER
People First Party lawmakers yesterday alleged
that the National Security Bureau has secretly channeled up
to NT$500 million from an unmonitored secret account to the
Taiwan Research Institute headed by former president Lee Teng-hui
(§õµn½÷).
The lawmakers said they discovered that the money has been
used to finance the Taiwan Solidarity Union, of which Lee is
the spiritual leader, and the Taiwan Advocates, a private think
tank founded recently by Lee.
National Security Bureau officials flatly rejected the allegation.
They admitted that the bureau had funded the Taiwan Research
Institute last year from an NT$19 million budget earmarked for
research projects for local or overseas academic institutions,
but would not disclose the details of the projects on the grounds
that they are confidential.
The institute, meanwhile, released a statement saying that
it only accepts research projects contracted by the government
and business sector, and that all the incomes and expenditures
of the institute are available for examination.
The PFP lawmakers made the allegation
yesterday after a closed-door meeting with a group of National
Security Bureau officials, led by bureau director-general Tsai
Chao-ming (½²´Â©ú).
Hsieh Chang-chieh (Á³¹±¶), deputy convener of the PFP legislative
caucus, said the bureau, under Lee's instruction, has amassed
a sum of money from the surpluses of its annual budgets during
the time of Lee's presidency.
Under standard procedure, the surpluses should be returned
to the national coffers.
This sum of money, which the lawmakers alleged has become the
"private stash" of a small minority of high-ranking
government officials, totals at least NT$4 billion including
bank interest, Hsieh said.
According to Hsieh, National Security Bureau officials told
the lawmakers during the meeting that there is a balance of
NT$3 billion, only.
"In other words, it is a mystery as to how the other NT$1
billion has been spent," Hsieh said.
He said the PFP demanded that the bureau brief the caucus on
the details of how the money was spent, and the caucus may propose
cutting or shelving the bureau's budget unless it is able to
offer a satisfactory explanation.
Also, the PFP will not rule out the possibility of cooperating
with the KMT to set up a special panel to investigate the secret
account, Hsieh said.
"The bureau should never be allowed
to spend money without monitoring by the legislature, especially
when the money is used to subsidize the operations of political
parties or groups," Hsieh said.
The existence of the bureau's secret account first came to
light in 2000 following the exposure of an alleged embezzlement
case involving former National Security Bureau chief cashier
Colonel Liu Kuan-chun (¼B«ax).
The NT$90 million allegedly misappropriated by Liu, who fled
abroad in September 2000, was allegedly from this account.
According to Hsieh, during closed-door
legislative sessions held to review the bureau's budget in the
same year, former bureau Director-General Ting Yu-chou (¤B´ü¬w)
admitted there was a sum of money that had accumulated from
past surpluses and promised to control spending on a case-by-case
basis and report to the legislature before drawing on the fund.
The bureau has so far failed to make good on its promise, Hsieh
said.
Tsai Huang-liang (½²·×·ã), chief executive of the DPP legislative
caucus, met with bureau Director-general Tsai Chao-ming immediately
after the PFP made the allegation.
Tsai Huang-liang quoted the bureau head as saying that the
secret account has been frozen since the exposure of Liu's case,
and that it is impossible for the NSB to draw money from the
account to finance the Taiwan Research Institute.
The bureau has kept a clear account of the money spent and
has reported to the Control Yuan's Ministry of Audit every three
months about this account, Tsai Chao-ming was cited as saying.