Former President Chen Shui-bian (???) on Monday said he has waited 16 years for the personal use of the presidential state affairs fund to be decriminalized, after an amendment that will retrospectively acquit him of charges of misusing the fund cleared the Legislature’s floor earlier in the day.
Meanwhile, Chen’s son, Kaohsiung City Councilor Chen Chih-chung (???) of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), thanked the party for its support for the amendment to Article 99-1 of the Accounting Act.
The passing of the amendment retrospectively absolves Chen Shui-bian, 71, of both civil and criminal liability for his alleged misuse of Presidential Office funds from 2000-2008. The amendment makes the personal use of such funds retrospectively legal but requires the provision of receipts.
Chen’s misuse of Presidential Office funds was first alleged by former People First Party lawmaker Chiu Yi (??) in 2006. The former president was first indicted on the charges in 2008 in a case that is currently in its second retrial at the Taiwan High Court.
In the indictment in 2008, prosecutors accused Chen of misusing a total of NT$104 million (US$3.56 million) from the state affairs fund for personal gain.
Chen called a press conference on April 7 to proclaim his innocence on the charge, despite the terms of his medical parole specifically forbidding him from participating in politics.
At that event, Chen detailed evidence showing 21 payments made from the state affairs fund totaling NT$133 million, far exceeding the NT$104 million he is accused of misusing during his presidency.
Chen said the 21 payments were used to promote confidential diplomatic missions, including paying an American lobbying firm, supporting pro-Taiwan democracy parades, and sponsoring democratic activists and groups, among others.
Article 99-1 of the Accounting Act states that actions related to the filing, handling, reimbursement, and use of all special allowance funds before Dec. 31, 2006, are exempt from punishment.
The amendment was pushed through the legislature Monday by DPP lawmakers who hold a majority in the lawmaking body. This expands the exemption granted under Article 99-1 to include the use of discretionary funds given to all executive agencies, including the state affairs funds available to the president.
According to Chen Chih-chung (???), state affairs funds are actually a form of special allowance fund, personal use of which has already been decriminalized, so there was no reason not to do the same with the state affairs fund.
However, when Article 99-1 was first introduced by the then ruling Kuomintang (KMT) in 2011 to decriminalize personal use of special allowance funds — after former President Ma Ying-jeou (???) of the KMT was found not guilty of taking half a monthly special allowance allocated to him as mayor of Taipei from 1998-2006 for personal use by a local court — the KMT did not include the state affairs fund in that article, Chen Chih-chung said.
“The exclusion is legally unfair and illogical,” he said, adding that the new amendment would bring closure to the 16-year-old case.
The amendment, initiated and backed by the DPP, was passed in a party-line vote boycotted by the main opposition KMT, with 57 votes in favor of the bill and 32 objections.
Following the amendment’s passage, KMT caucus whip Tseng Ming-chung (???) criticized the DPP for focusing on absolving Chen at a time when Taiwan is experiencing a hike in domestic COVID-19 cases.
The party issued a strong protest over the amendment being forced through the legislature, while calling on Taiwanese people “to teach the DPP a lesson” at the year-end local elections, Tseng said.
Two smaller opposition parties, Taiwan People’s Party and New Power Party (NPP) both called it “regrettable” that the DPP was using its majority to push through the controversial amendment without a thorough discussion in the Legislative Yuan on the issue first.
NPP caucus whip Chiu Hsien-chih (???) said if the DPP wants to exonerate Chen, it should do so via presidential pardon to take political responsibility for the decision instead of forcing the Legislative Yuan to take the blame.
The NPP said it will ask Premier Su Tseng-chang (???) to consider rejecting the Legislative Yuan amendment so it can be discussed in the lawmaking body thoroughly before a final decision is made.
In its defense, DPP legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (???) said the amendment was introduced based on the principle of fairness.
The state affairs fund is a kind of special allowance fund and it is only logical to also decriminalize the personal use of both funds, he said.
He called on the KMT not to reflexively object to everything to do with former president Chen.
Amendment initiator DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (???) said even with the decriminalization of the personal use of the state affairs fund, Chen still faces other charges and has still been convicted of corruption.
“Nothing actually changed because of the passing of the latest amendment,” he added.
The case is one of several corruption scandals that Chen became embroiled in after leaving office. He was given a total of about 20 years in jail in 2010 for accepting bribes in a land deal and other cases.
The former president was incarcerated as a result but released on conditional medical parole in 2015.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel