Lo Fu-chu mulling early return to the legislature to chair committee meeting

Apparently intending to renege on his promise not to participate in legislative proceedings for three months -- a self-imposed punishment for assaulting People First Party (PFP) Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) on March 28 -- independent legislator Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) is expected to chair a meeting of the Judiciary Committee tomorrow in his capacity as one of its conveners.

The agenda of the meeting is sensitive. Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) and State Public Prosecutor General Lu Ren-fa (盧仁發) have been invited to brief the committee on the Chung Hsing Bills Finance case (興票案), involving PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜).

The meeting has been arranged following a Tuesday announcement by the prosecution that the case may be reopened due to "new evidence" coming to light.

The case was thought to have come to an end on Feb. 8 when the KMT -- the plaintiff -- decided not to seek reconsideration of the prosecution's decision not to indict Soong.

PFP Legislator Chen Chao-jung (陳朝容), a close friend of Lo, yesterday confirmed that he had asked Lo to help arrange the agenda, "because the reinvestigation of Soong's case is widely suspected to be a result of `political interference.'"

The other two conveners of the Judiciary Committee, the KMT's Kao Yu-jen (高育仁) and independent Lin Ruey-tou (林瑞圖), hold the same opinion, according to Chen.

Other PFP legislators, however, are not supportive of Chen's move.

PFP Legislator Liu Wen-hisung (劉文雄) said that the meeting would invite suspicion that the legislators are trying to interfere with the judiciary, while themselves criticizing others for interfering in the case.

Lo, who returned to Taiwan from a trip to China on Friday night, would not comment yesterday on the agenda for his attendance at tomorrow's meeting.

Meanwhile, Chen Chin-ting (陳進丁), chief executive of the Alliance of Independent Lawmakers caucus, to which Lo belongs, confirmed that Lo will attend the meeting, despite his promise not to participate in proceedings in the legislature for three months, starting March 29.

Chen said Lo changed his mind because the legislature's Discipline Committee had recommended that he be suspended from duty for six months, a punishment which Lo considers "too heavy."

"He has decided to continue his participation at the legislature until his punishment has been finalized by the legislature," Chen said.

The legislature will hold a meeting on Thursday to consider the punishment recommended for Lo.

The six-month suspension will apply if it is approved by two-thirds of the attending legislators.