Citizen Congress Watch head Ho Tsung-hsun yesterday points out discrepancies in a budget approved by a legislative committee last week.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES

Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) yesterday accused lawmakers of laxity after finding errors in a Council of Agriculture (COA) budget that a legislative committee approved last week.

As part of the government’s plan to expand domestic demand, the council had submitted a plan to add or repair agricultural infrastructure.

The total amount of the proposed budget — which had been submitted by the council and approved by the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) before being reviewed and passed by the legislature’s Economics Committee last week — did not add up to the sum of the listed items in a document distributed to lawmakers last week, the group said.

“The total amount of the budget that passed initial review at the legislature was NT$2,825,600,000 [US$92.9 million], but when we added up all the figures listed in a detailed document distributed to legislators, the sum was NT$2,869,900,000: There is a NT$44 million difference,” CCW executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) told a news conference outside the legislature.

“First, there’s the COA, then the CEPD, and then the 113 lawmakers and more than a thousand office aides,” he said. “It’s unimaginable how such an error could have occurred.”

The budget has moved on to a second reading, but the group urged lawmakers to reject the budget and return it to the Cabinet.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said the error occurred because lawmakers at the Economics Committee didn’t work hard enough.

“With an absolute majority in the committee, the governing party can pass anything it wants,” said Huang, who is not a member of the committee. “But [the legislature] will see how it can fix that problem now.”

When reached by the Taipei Times for response, the COA said it was not responsible for the error.

“Our planning department sent the original plan with the budget to the CEPD,” said Chen Hui-chuan (陳彗娟), director of the council’s accounting office.

“But when the legislature asked for detailed information, the CEPD reorganized the budget plan before sending it to the legislature,” she said. “I suppose something went wrong when they restructured the budget plan.”
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By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Jun 27, 2008, Page 3

【自由時報】擴大內需預算 農委會數字兜不攏

〔記者陳詩婷、王孟倫／台北報導〕馬政府提出的擴大公共建設投資計畫特別預算修正案再度出包！公民監督國會聯盟昨天指出，農委會在該計畫中編列的主管項目預算和實際預算不但有出入，且差額高達四千四百三十萬元，擺明是大烏龍，建議立院將該預算案退回，並徹查行政部門責任。

經建會官員昨天回應指出，上述預算在作業上出現瑕疵有誤、數字打錯，但每個細項與總額度金額都沒問題，也不影響到計畫內容。官員說，這個部分的錯誤是擴大內需的計畫項目，在細項金額的「加總」過程出現疏忽，導致項目與說明欄金額不一致，但每個計畫細項金額都是正確。

公督盟執行長何宗勳昨天表示，根據經建會送抵立法院的計畫項目表，農委會在擴大公共建設投資計畫特別預算案中，共分配到二十八億六千九百九十萬元，但計算後發現，預算說明欄中的總金額卻只有二十八億兩千五百六十萬元，兩者差額四千四百三十萬元，證明行政院當初預算編列浮濫、草率。

依照公督盟估算，農委會這次主管編列的預算，總計有農路維修建設、治山防洪、農村建設等十三項，其中有十一項經費加總和預算數不合，還有一項根本未列出預算數，奇怪的是，總預算數卻未因此而減少，仍為二十八億六千九百九十萬元。

何宗勳呼籲立委及即將上任的監察委員，徹查農委會、經建會在這次預算案中的疏失責任，「監察院能不能夠打老虎，這件事就可以證明！」