Kuomintang vice presidential candidate Wang Ju-hsuan apologized on Tuesday for all the controversy surrounding her purchases of military dependent housing. She also donated the NT$13.8 million she earned from those real estate investments to show her sincerity.
There have been rumors that exaggerated the number of units and amount of money she made from the investments. Wang said she had to hold a press conference to clarify the situation and apologize for the anxiety and confusion it has caused her supporters.
Before 2005, Wang said she bought 9 military apartments and two were used as residences for herself. Currently, she only has one in her name while her mother and sister each have one in their names.
After 2006, she did not invest in these military homes. So she said all the controversy has been over investments she made ten to twenty years ago. But she stressed that these investments were all legal and she filed taxes on all of them.
"Ever since the beginning, I did not intend to hide anything, not for a moment. This information has already been declared and can be checked by anyone," said Wang.
"There’s no need to hide anything. All of this can pass any test. If there is anything false, I can take on all legal responsibility. I’ve definitely truthfully declared everything and paid taxes according to the law. But I did not prepare all this information so that the public could understand it clearly. This is my mistake. I need to apologize to society and all the friends who support me."
She said that the investment opportunity was introduced to her by a broker and she believed they were legal purchases.
But after thinking about the purpose of the policy behind military dependent housing, she understood that she failed to live up to people’s expectations for a vice presidential candidate. She thus decided to donate all of the money she earned from those housing investments.
Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen said that the military dependent housing was a government policy to help the disadvantaged in society. She said Wang should respond to people’s questions about this issue because it is an issue of her integrity.