Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) said yesterday that prosecutors would look into allegations by former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) attorney that Chen was an “agent” of the US government.
Wang made the remarks at a meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
She was referring to the former president’s petition last week for the US to intervene as the “principal occupying power of Taiwan” to seek his immediate release and restore his civil and human rights.
Roger Lin (林志昇), a member of the Taiwan Civil Rights Litigation Organization, said last week that his organization was sponsoring legal action for Chen and demanding full respect for his civil rights and his immediate release.
Lin said that Chen had declared himself an “agent” of the US government during his eight-year presidency and that the Republic of China government was in exile because Taiwan remains under the US Military Government as per the 1952 San Francisco Peace Treaty.
Wang said prosecutors would look into the matter and investigate whether Chen has committed treason or other crimes.
During the committee meeting, Wang also vowed to crack down on individuals who owe large amounts to the national treasury in unpaid taxes.
More than NT$400 billion (US$12 billion) is owed to the national treasury in outstanding taxes by businesses and individuals, Wang said.
She said that because of limited budgets, the ministry’s Administrative Enforcement Agency had only 700 officials, meaning that each enforcement officer is responsible for 20,000 cases, causing delays in the process.
The issue of outstanding tax revenue recently surfaced as the agency sought payment from Jack Sun (孫道存), the former chairman of Pacific Electric Wire and Cable (太平洋電線電纜), who owes an estimated NT$300 million in taxes. Sun’s extravagant lifestyle despite his large debts has attracted much criticism from lawmakers and the public.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
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