《TAIPEI TIMES》 Women’s League may be given more time to comply

By Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with CNA

With the National Women’s League on the brink of missing the deadline to clarify what it did with an estimated NT$349.81 billion （US$11.47 billion） in missing charitable donations, the Ministry of the Interior yesterday said it might grant the organization some more time.

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From 1955 to 1989, taxes and surcharges valued at an estimated NT$24 billion at the time — worth NT$349.81 billion today — were funneled to the league, nominally as charitable funds for military veterans.

Following the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee’s demands in April that the league explain what happened to the funds, the ministry on June 13 ordered the league to turn over all its financial records relating to the funds.

Failure to meet the deadline, set to expire at midnight yesterday, would trigger severe consequences for the league, including the removal of its leadership, the ministry said at the time.

However, the ministry yesterday appeared to have softened its stance, with the league showing no sign that it would be able to comply with its demands as of press time last night.

The ministry’s Director of Civil Affairs Lin Ching-chi （林清淇） said the league has been acting in good faith and the ministry would not let “stiff bureaucratic formality” get in the way of “solving the problem.”

“There would be a period of flexibility to account for the time requirements of operations,” Lin said, adding that the ministry might not seek to impose penalties immediately if the deadline is missed.

The ministry understands that the league is having difficulties and hopes the issue can be solved smoothly, but if the league fails to fulfill its promises, the ministry would still impose all due penalties, Lin said.

Separately yesterday, Minister of the Interior Yeh Jiunn-rong （葉俊榮） in Miaoli County said the ministry has communicated with the league and hopes it responds to the demands, adding that the deadline had not yet passed.

Previously, the party assets committee said its investigations showed that the league had enjoyed privileges that were not available to ordinary civic foundations.

The preferential treatment the league received included having taxes and surcharges placed in its coffers and being exempt from 1956 stamp duties or the obligation to turn in financial statements when receiving donations, the committee said.

Additional reporting by Yang Chun-hui

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES