Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) should be immediately suspended and placed under investigation while the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office processes accusations that Huang was party to illegal practices in the influence-peddling case involving several government officials, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said yesterday.
Civic groups and former deputy minister of justice Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) on Monday filed lawsuits against Huang and the Special Investigation Division (SID), accusing him of violating the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法), the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法) and the Civil Servant Service Act (公務人員服務法) and leaking information, DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) told a news conference.
“If Huang, the head of the prosecutorial system, is not suspended immediately pending further investigation, it will be difficult for prosecutors to probe the allegations against him,” Gao said.
Photo: Mandy Cheng, AFP
The division on Friday accused Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), former minister of justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) and High Prosecutors’ Office Head Prosecutor Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌) of influence peddling on behalf of DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in a breach of trust case against Ker.
The probe has sparked widespread public debate about politicians’ lobbying activities and condemnation from many who say amounted to a political persecution against Wang.
Tseng subsequently announced his resignation, but maintained that he is innocent.
Wiretapping Ker’s mobile phone — which is how the SID reportedly discovered the officials’ alleged misconduct — and the decision to announce the case while Wang was out of the country showed that the investigation is a politically motivated affair in which Huang is playing the role of a thug hired by politicians, DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said.
Ker again extended his apologies to Wang, a close friend of his, for “dragging him into the political storm.”
He declined to comment on media reports about Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu’s (洪秀柱) possible nomination as Wang’s replacement.
Separately, DPP lawmaker Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) called on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to resign as KMT chairman because he had interfered with congressional affairs in his capacity as party leader.
“Not only did Ma launch a political vendetta against Wang, the president also hinted at possible candidates for a new legislative speaker. These actions violate the principle of separation of powers,” Cheng said.
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) has also made comments that were unconstitutional, DPP Legislator Chen Ming-wen (陳明文) said in a press release.
Jiang was quoted by media as saying that it would be “inappropriate” for Wang to retain his post as legislative speaker amid the scandal.
The premier’s comment infringed on the legislature’s autonomy and violated the separation of powers, Chen Shou-huang said, adding that Jiang should apologize for his remarks.
‘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
RSS