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Ma Ying-jeou has given NT$68m  to worthy causes

Kuomintang chairman Ma Ying-jeou has made public details of  charity donations topping NT$68 million (HK$16.3 million) in an effort to prove his integrity.

Aides of Mr Ma, who is also Taipei mayor, held a high-profile news conference yesterday, complete with an independent accountant.

'Rarely are there people like Mayor Ma, who is so charitable,' said accountant Chou Chih-cheng,  who was invited to audit donations made by Mr Ma since his first term in office as major in 1999.

According to Mr Chou, Mr Ma has donated NT$68.09 million  to charity organisations in the past eight years.

'Of the NT$68.09 million, only NT$16,000 worth of donations were unable to produce receipts,' Mr Chou said.

Mr Chou said he and his colleagues found no evidence of  donations returning to Mr Ma's pocket through organisations he had set up. He was referring to two foundations established by Mr Ma after he became mayor.

Lawmakers of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party say these were established as a  'private money laundering channel'.

Lee Shu-teh,  secretary-general of the mayoral office, said Mr Ma started making donations to charities long before he became mayor. Vice-Mayor Chin Fu-tsung  pointed out that Mr Ma was reluctant to pocket election subsidies given to him after winning two mayoral elections. 'He used the money to set up the two independent foundations to promote public welfare and social services,' the vice-mayor said.

The DPP, however, cried foul, saying the donations did not prove that Mr Ma did not embezzle government money, especially when the mayor still had NT$62 million in savings after donating more than NT$68 million. They said Mr Ma and his wife had only NT$18 million before Mr Ma became mayor in 1999.

Trapped in a snowballing corruption scandal, Mr Ma had hoped that releasing details of his donations could help him and his party out of the trouble.

Mr Ma, known for his Mr Clean image, is being investigated over what DPP lawmakers have alleged is his embezzlement of half  the NT$340,000 special monthly expenses allocated to him to pay for public affairs.

Worse still, it was later found that one of Mr Ma's aides faked receipts in accounting for NT$1.4 million worth of the special expenses in the past three years. This prompted Mr Ma's opponents to claim corruption to discredit their opposition's biggest hope in the 2008 presidential election, diverting  attention from scandal-plagued President Chen Shui-bian.

Last month  prosecutors said they had enough evidence to charge Mr Chen with corruption but could not  do so while he was  in office  and had  presidential immunity.

The accusation against Mr Ma was first made in May and a DPP lawmaker later took the case to court in August to sue Mr Ma for alleged corruption. But it was only in November that the allegations returned to haunt Mr Ma. Political analysts and KMT heavyweights said Mr Ma had displayed poor  management in handling the crisis.



KMT chief details charity donations amid graft claims