TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Ma Ying-jeou Foundation announced Friday that it will file embezzlement and breach of trust criminal complaints against KMT Vice Chair Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) and former foundation employee Wang Kuang-tzu (王光慈) over alleged financial misconduct.
The foundation said it had hired lawyers to submit criminal complaints against Hsiao and Wang to the Shilin District Prosecutors Office, per UDN. It added that because the matter had entered legal proceedings, it would refrain from disclosing further details.
Hsiao and Wang left the foundation following allegations of financial impropriety, though an internal investigation authorized by the board later cleared them. Despite the findings, the foundation subsequently released additional information related to the accusations and questioned possible personal ties between members of the investigative panel and the accused.
At a press conference on Monday, former National Security Council Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) displayed a 2023 photograph showing Hsiao and Taiwanese businessperson Han Ying-huan (韓螢煥) holding a stack of cash, per TVBS. Hsiao said former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) knew about the donation and instructed that the funds be used by the foundation, even though the money had originally been intended for Ma’s personal use.
Han later supported Hsiao’s account regarding the donation’s intended purpose, per CNA. Subsequent reporting published a photograph showing Ma thanking Han during a 2024 foundation donor event, per SETN. Political insiders speculated that Ma may have forgotten his previous acknowledgement of Han’s donation.
The foundation said Han neither made a donation during the event nor contributed to the foundation during the 2024 fiscal year. It rejected Hsiao’s explanation, arguing that even if Ma instructed him to use the donation for foundation operations, the transaction should still have been formally recorded.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) also commented on the controversy, noting that Han belongs to a Chinese government-linked organization representing Taiwanese businesspeople, per UP Media. Liang said he hoped prosecutors would fully investigate the matter if charges were formally filed.
During an interview on Wednesday, King discussed Ma’s views on the dispute. He said Ma is especially strict regarding legal matters and would not have permitted Hsiao to leave the donation undocumented if doing so violated regulations, per UDN.
King added that although Ma never intended to overlook the issue, the foundation had initially been inclined to avoid escalation before Hsiao and Wang, in King’s words, “pressed the foundation” over the controversy, per Liberty Times. He also said Ma told him in 2025 that he felt uneasy about Hsiao and Wang’s visits to China because he suspected they “might be doing something behind his back.”
King said he declined to return to the foundation himself, though he offered to help identify possible future board members, per UDN. He added that while Ma initially agreed to regular meetings and conveyed that intention through his office, King later learned through the foundation that Ma had instead traveled to China when he called to arrange the meetings.
