Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) spokespersons yesterday urged voters unhappy with the acquittal of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), on money laundering and corruption charges to vent their displeasure on Nov. 27, while the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) accused the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) of attempting to “hijack” the judiciary.
KMT Legislator Lin Yi-shih (林益世) urged the DPP’s mayoral candidates in the special municipality elections to explain their position on Friday’s court ruling, adding: “Please tell the electorate whether you think people who take bribes should be acquitted.”
Lin called on the DPP caucus to help pass the Judges’ Act in the legislature. The committee review of the bill has been brought forward from next week to this week.
Lin also urged voters to go to the polls, saying the message they send will signal their expectations of the judiciary.
While KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) described Judge Chou Chan-chun’s (周占春) verdict as “gutsy,” she said it represented “covert encouragement” for public servants to commit graft.
The Taipei District Court said it found no evidence that Chen 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 Holdings (元大金控).
“As long as you are skillful, you don’t have to take the money, but your wife and relatives can accept it on your behalf because they don’t have any direct connection with your job,” Hung said. “It’s unbelievable to see such a ruling.”
Some people have been so disappointed that they have decided not to vote, Hung said.
“If you stay home, the government that made you so angry will return to power,” she said. “The real reason why the DPP wants to win all five mayoral seats is that they want to protect Chen’s judicial rights. If the DPP wins the elections, corruption will be rampant, but not a single corrupt public servant will be held responsible. Is this what you really want?”
KMT Legislator Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和) said that if the KMT loses the elections, Taiwan would become a “corrupt island” and a “dishonest country.” Saying he was “shocked” to see the judiciary become “Chen’s personal hit men,” Chung urged voters to come out to banish “dinosaur judges” and protect the judicial system.
“The ruling clears the name of the KMT, which has been accused of using the judicial system to serve its own interests,” he said.
KMT Legislator Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏) said there was a significant gap between the verdict and public opinion since various opinion polls showed a majority of respondents were unhappy with the verdict.
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said a private group calling itself the anti-corruption alliance placed a half-page ad in the Chinese-language China Times and United Daily News yesterday criticizing the ruling and urging voters to use their ballots to recover Taiwan’s honesty and justice.
Fai urged the DPP’s Taipei mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Sinbei City mayoral candidate (and DPP Chairperson) Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to say where they stood on the issue.
Fai also challenged Su to renew his claims that the corruption accusations against Chen were politically motivated.
Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興), a former DPP member, broke his silence to slam the verdict.
Approached for comment after visiting former Kaohsiung mayor Su Nan-cheng (蘇南成) for support, Yang said the verdict failed to live up to public expectations, and that it was wrong to take money from other people.
Yang’s campaign spokeswoman Tseng Yin-li (曾尹儷) told reporters at a separate setting that Yang used to support Chen because he did not know the former president was “so corrupt.”
Yang left the DPP to run as an independent.
Meanwhile, KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), who is running for mayor of Greater Kaohsiung, urged the Control Yuan to censure Taipei District Court presiding Judge Chou Chan-chun (周占春) over the Chen verdict.
Huang and KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Tsang-min (林滄敏) went to the Control Yuan to accuse Chou of neglecting his duties.
Meanwhile, the DPP said the latest moves by KMT politicians targeting Chou were an attempt to “hijack” the judiciary.
“Just because they are unhappy with the ruling, [the KMT] is willing to undermine the [independence] of the judiciary,” DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said.
DPP lawmakers said the KMT’s reaction, along with an “anti-corruption” rally the KMT is planning for Nov. 21, appear to be motivated by the upcoming elections.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang and Vincent Y. Chao
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
RESILIENCE: Deepening bilateral cooperation would extend the peace sustained over the 45 years since the Taiwan Relations Act, Greene said Taiwan-US relations are built on deep economic ties and shared values, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday, adding that strengthening supply chain security in critical industries, enhancing societal resilience through cooperation and deepening partnerships are key to ensuring peace and stability for Taiwan in the years ahead. Greene made the remarks at the National Security Youth Forum, organized by National Taiwan University’s National Security and Strategy Studies Institution in Taipei. In his address in Mandarin Chinese, Greene said the Taiwan-US relationship is built on deep economic ties and shared interests, and grows stronger through the enduring friendship between
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
RSS