TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Huang Shan-shan (黃珊珊) responded on Thursday (Sept. 19) to allegations linking anonymous small donations to former Taipei City Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) presidential campaign and the Core Pacific graft case.
Mirror Media reported that anonymous donations accounted for roughly 93% of all personal contributions to Ko’s campaign. Citing an unnamed source, the outlet suggested that Core Pacific Chair Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), a defendant in the case, hid his tracks through cash transactions.
During a live stream at the TPP headquarters in Taipei, Huang addressed the allegations in detail. She expressed surprise at the number of donors listed as anonymous after reviewing the political donations made during Ko’s presidential bid, per CNA.
Huang explained that donations were processed through third-party donation websites or direct bank transfers. She noted that third-party websites forward donor information to the campaign, allowing it to maintain an independent record of cash flow.
Regarding bank transfers, Huang said that while banks retain transaction records, the Political Donation Act allows donations under NT$10,000 (US$312) to be made anonymously. Donations exceeding NT$10,000 require the campaign to request donor information from the bank.
She suggested there may have been a lack of initiative in obtaining donor information for smaller contributions.
Huang said that receipts were offered for these small donations, but donors often did not call to request them. She emphasized that although the Control Yuan’s data lists these donors as anonymous, each entry represents a legitimate contributor.
In response to the high percentage of cash donations to Ko’s campaign, Huang claimed she was confused by a system error that occurred when Ko’s third-party donation website transferred into the Control Yuan’s system. She asserted that cash flows recorded as bank transfers were incorrectly categorized as cash transactions.
Acknowledging errors in the campaign’s financial transparency and compliance submissions, Huang said that her next step would involve thoroughly reviewing bank records to correct past mistakes. She suggested that these errors allowed opponents to portray her party negatively and connect anonymous small donations to the ongoing graft case.
Former TPP member Grace Woo (吳靜怡) criticized Huang’s response, saying that she continued to shift blame to third parties. Woo said the TPP could not effectively govern if it could not manage its own finances competently, per NOWnews.