President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged the justice system to avoid “detaching itself from the outside world” and “departing from public expectations” after the Taipei District Court on Friday acquitted former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), of money laundering and corruption charges, a verdict that prosecutors have said they would appeal.
As head of state, Ma said it was “inconvenient” for him to comment on an ongoing case. However, while the judiciary must be independent — something he emphasized during his Double Ten National Day address — it must not isolate itself from the outside world or deviate from public expectations, he said.
“The judiciary must protect the interests of the good and the honest. That is the least the system can do,” he said.
Ma made the remarks at an election event in Tainan County in the morning.
On Friday, the Taipei District Court said it found no evidence that Chen Shui-bian took NT$600 million (US$20 million) in exchange for promises not to block separate mergers initiated by Cathay Financial Holdings (國泰金控) and Yuanta Financial Holding (元大金控).
The spokesman for the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Panel, Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達), said yesterday the panel would appeal the verdict to the Taiwan High Court.
The spokesman said that in their ruling, the judges had “excessively narrowed” the definition of the authority of the president as stipulated in the Constitution, adding that such a definition could mean that whoever is president could do whatever he or she wants, as long as it is not in the scope of his or her official authority.
Friday’s ruling said that according to the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例), a public official violates the law by taking bribes in exchange for decisions or policies in favor of the bribers, but that according to the Constitution, the president’s duties do not include policies on bank mergers, so Chen was therefore unable to receive money from banks to help their merger proposals.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) said he hoped further investigation would be conducted so the public — which “desires so much social justice and judicial impartiality” — would not be “disappointed.”
While the verdict compared Chen and Ma and said Ma’s recent behavior went beyond his presidential duties, Presidential Office Spokesman Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) dismissed it as a “bad comparison.”
Lo said the public would reach its own conclusions regarding the verdict and that the Presidential Office would not comment on the prosecutors’ decision to appeal.
However, Lo said it was incumbent upon him to provide clarifications on presidential authority, as there was apparently a yawning chasm between the court’s interpretation of presidential duties and the constitutional practices and public expectations.
As the president was popularly elected, Lo said the people expected him to listen to their grievances and resolve their problems, and it was only natural for the president to ask government agencies to respond to public opinions and set policies accordingly.
Meanwhile, the KMT said it would add anti-corruption to the theme of the Nov. 21 march they are organizing to boost the prospects of Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) re-election bid.
King declined to comment on whether the ruling in Chen’s case would motivate KMT supporters to come out and vote on Nov. 27. However, he said his party would add the themes of opposing corruption and insisting on judicial reform to the march.
Meanwhile, KMT Greater Kao-hsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chao-shun’s (黃昭順) campaign invited Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) to join her signature campaign against Friday’s ruling.
Huang’s campaign spokesman Tu Chien-heng (杜建衡) delivered an invitation to Chen Chu’s campaign headquarters urging the latter to support Huang’s demand that the Special Investigation Panel immediately appeal the ruling and voice support for Ma’s anti-corruption campaign.
Chen Chu has kept a low profile since the ruling.
In response, Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), spokesman for Chen Chu’s campaign, called Huang’s signature drive an act of populism, saying that Huang, a KMT legislator, should return to the legislature if she really wanted to push judicial reform.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY RICH CHANG, FLORA WANG AND AP
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS