Mayor doubles down on Hon Hai standoff
CLEAN SWEEP:The capital’s new Clean Government Commission will take probes into its own hands, an official in the administration of Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said
By Abraham Gerber / Staff reporter
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je speaks to reporters in the capital yesterday.
Photo: CNA
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), saying he owes Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) nothing, yesterday reiterated his rejection of the corporation’s demand that the municipal government provide documents showing that its subsidiary company won a bid to build an electronics shopping mall in the capital.
“During the election, I never took your money and I do not owe you anything,” Ko said, adding that the municipal government would handle affairs in accordance with its own principles.
On Monday, Hon Hai took out a front-page advertisement in six major Chinese-language newspapers that demanded that the local government, within 48 hours, make public all documents relating to its subsidiary’s bid for the Syntrend Creative Park (三創園區) project. The technology group said it would cease construction on the site until the municipal government affirmed the bid’s legality.
Ko yesterday reiterated that the Taipei City Government would handle the case at its own pace, referring all related documents to a new Clean Government Commission for investigation.
Ko also outlined the rules for the commission, set to be established this week ahead of his administration’s original March target date.
While the local government previously had a Clean Government Commission, the commission is being reorganized to allow greater public participation, Ko said.
While government officials previously held a majority of the seats on the commission, they make up just a third of the new 21-member commission.
Ko yesterday named eight commissioners he wants to appoint from outside the government, including an author, an economics professor, a civic activist and lawyers. He said the six remaining commissioners would be chosen in an open process in which city residents would be able to vote on the final choices.
Commission members will be charged with investigating controversies surrounding several development projects that were launched under the previous administration, including the Taipei Dome (台北大巨蛋), the Taipei New Horizon (臺北文創) complex, the MeHAS City (美河市) residential project and the Taipei Twin Towers (雙子星).
Taipei Department of Government Ethics Commissioner Liu Ming-wu (劉明武) said that the commissioners’ powers would be expanded to bring them to the “front line” of the investigations.
While previous commissioners relied on materials prepared by the department’s investigation unit, the new commissioners would have the power to requisition documents and conduct interviews themselves, Liu said.
Meanwhile, Ko said the capital has already arrived at a consensus on its negotiating position with Taipei Dome contractor Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設). Ko said Taipei would work to adjust the contract terms on 39 points that were flagged as questionable in 2009 by the Control Yuan.
Taipei Dome project executive secretary Hu Pei-lun (胡培倫) said the Control Yuan’s 39 points cover a number of adjustments to the original contract that were disadvantageous to the government, including reducing penalties for contract violations to a level that Ko called “ridiculous” over the weekend.
Farglory refused to respond to demands from the previous administration that the offending articles be revised, Hu said, adding that the contract changes require the agreement of both parties.
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