Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) resigned yesterday amid mounting speculation that allegations of influence peddling against Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) were politically motivated.
Following a statement on his Facebook page, Lo told a press conference about his decision, which he said centers on the “nature” of the allegations by the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office against “a speaker engaging in influence peddling in a judicial case.”
The SID on Friday last week accused Wang of illegally lobbying then-minister of justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) and Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office Head Prosecutor Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌) on behalf of Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) by urging the pair to stop a prosecutor from appealing Ker’s not-guilty verdict in a breach of trust case.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“Think about this: If you were engaged in a lawsuit against Ker and you ended up losing the case because Ker had lobbied Wang to exert his influence on the judiciary to rule in his favor, would you be able accept this?” Lo said.
Lo said the influence-peddling case was just one of many reasons behind his resignation, which included personal reasons and his family.
“The influence-peddling case and how it has evolved have had a huge impact on me. I have stated on Facebook what I thought about the case. After resigning, I can say whatever I want to say,” Lo said.
Lo said that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had thought hard of the potential political fallout before he revealed the content of the SID’s probe, and that Ma had insisted on “fighting for his beliefs” so that the judicial system would be free of political interference.
“The involvement of a legislative speaker in influence peddling — is it difficult to distinguish between what is right and wrong in this case?” Lo asked.
He said that Wang’s alleged misconduct had overstepped the red line and violated the Constitution.
“Can we be indifferent?” he asked.
Lo refused to comment on the SID’s handling of the case, including questions about due process and the legitimacy of wiretapping Ker’s telephone, disclosure of the wiretaps transcripts and leaking the information to Ma while the investigation was still ongoing.
Rumored to be interested in running for mayor of Keelung, Lo said he wold not throw his hat into the ring.
His position will be filled in two weeks, Lo said.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS