Taiwan provides the $15million for MPs’ discretionary fund: ex-PM Lilo

Former Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo

FORMER Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo says the $15 million paid out to politicians as Discretionary Funds in recent weeks comes from a secret fund administered by Taiwan.

And Mr Lilo is calling on Taiwan to account for its action, saying its secret fund “is encouraging people to assume powers they do not have under the Constitution of Solomon Islands.”

At the same time he calls for the suspension of the Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister as well as the acting Accountant General for making public statements on the matter.

There must be a formal investigation, Mr Lilo said.

Mr Lilo’s call came as Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Taiwan’s new envoy to Solomon Islands, Roger Tien-hung Luo, reaffirmed commitments to take Solomon Islands-Taiwan relations to “newer heights”.

“As Taiwan’s new envoy I vow to take our friendship to a new height and to bring about tangible and beneficial achievements that outlive my tour of duty,” Ambassador Luo said at a dinner on Wednesday night marking the start of his official engagement.

But in an impromptu interview with Island Sun at his request yesterday, Mr Lilo said Taiwan’s secret funding is a very serious matter which must be dealt with immediately.

He said his knowledge of Taiwan’s funding is based on his experience as a former Prime Minister between 2011 and 2013.

“How do I know where the funds come from?” he asked.

“As a former Prime Minister, Taiwan had provided similar amounts in discretionary funds to me in 2012 and again in 2013,” Mr Lilo said.

“In 2012, the money was spent on the construction of Munda Airport, instead of sharing it amongst MPs as discretionary funds.

“In 2013, Taiwan provided a similar amount of money, which was used in funding a number of important projects nationally, including Kilu’ufi Hospital on Malaita. Of course, by doing what I did, there were unhappy people around because they wanted me to share the money but I did not.

“I told those people, including Taiwan, that as Prime Minister I have no discretionary powers under the Constitution to share this type of fund,” Mr Lilo said.

The former Prime Minister said Taiwan must account for its action “because the secret funding it is providing on an annual basis is encouraging people to assume powers they do not have”.

“There is no such thing as discretionary funds unless it is provided for in the National Constitution and appropriated for in the Budget. In the case of the discretionary funds from Taiwan, none of these two prerequisite requirements are met by the secret funds from Taiwan,” he said.

“The only person who has discretionary powers on public funds is the Minister for Finance and Treasury. But even then, his powers are limited,” Mr Lilo said.

In separate statements last week, the government confirmed having paid $12.85 million to 43 MPs between January 20 and February 7. Seven MPs remained unpaid at the time.

Both the Chief of Staff and the acting Accountant General said in separate statements that the discretionary funds are legal and legitimate.

But Mr Lilo said the issue is not about legitimacy. “The issue is about the Constitutional authority to disburse discretionary funds especially from a foreign country,” he said.

He also pointed out that the acting Accountant General is not authorised to make public statements on public funds.

“The only time he or she is allowed to do so is after the accounts have been audited. The same is true of the Chief of Staff. He should never make statements that legitimatises a serious matter pertaining to Constitutional powers,” he said.

National Parliament which prepared the disbursements of the $12.85 million discretionary funds said last night the funding “comes from the consolidated fund, and not from Taiwan”.