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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》Ko says not worried over possible probe on budget
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, center right, yesterday sings at an outdoor concert in Taipei organized by metal band Chthonic, whose lead singer, Freddy Lim, center left, is running as a New Power Party legislative candidate. Photo: Chung Hung-liang, Taipei Times
By Sean Lin / Staff reporter
Faced with a possible Control Yuan investigation over the Taipei City Government’s improper use of its public housing budget, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je （柯文哲） yesterday said that he would not worry too much about being investigated, and that being probed by the agency during his time as a physician actually helped him become Taipei mayor.
Ko made the remark at a forum in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District （永和）, where he discussed with legislative candidates his political beliefs and possibilities of improving collaborations between the two municipalities.
Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Taipei City Councilor Chen Yung-te （陳永德） on Friday said that the KMT Taipei City Council caucus would file a report with the Control Yuan concerning the city government’s inappropriate use of funds, which it said totaled NT$15 million （US$454,476）, and ask that Ko be probed.
The city government’s unauthorized use of the fund was illegal and disdainful, Chen said.
In response to media queries yesterday on whether he was worried about the possible investigation, Ko said: “I became mayor because I was investigated by the Control Yuan.”
Ko was referring to an incident in which the National Taiwan University Hospital negligently transplanted the organs of AIDS patients, for which Ko, who helped design the registration system for organ transplants, nearly got impeached by the Control Yuan.
Ko had protested the punishment handed by the Control Yuan numerous times, citing a loophole in the system and likening the impeachment, later nullified by a grand justice, to a “public trial” conducted by the Chinese Communist Party.
Ko later said that he is on a crusade to change Taiwanese culture, to “fulfill Chiang Wei-shui’s （蔣渭水） destiny,” which is why he has agreed to be interviewed by reporters every day, because he wants to be a promoter of culture rather than a political leader.”
Chiang was a pioneer of Taiwanese democracy and human rights and was responsible for founding the Taiwan People’s Party （台灣民眾黨）, the nation’s first modern political party, and the first Taiwanese Federation of Workers’ Unions. He died from typhoid fever under the former Taiwan Governer-General’s Office watch.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
