President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was involved in leaks of secrets and collusion with Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) in their meetings and telephone calls both before and after the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) accused Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) of improper lobbying, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and lawyers said yesterday.
In an interview yesterday, Ma said he met with Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and then-Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) on Aug. 31, after being briefed by Huang about Wang’s alleged violations earlier the same day.
The meeting came six days before the SID’s press conference on Sept. 6, at which it accused Wang of improper lobbying.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Ma’s meetings with Huang were criticized as violating the confidentiality of an ongoing investigation and being part of a conspiracy by Ma to remove Wang from his position as legislative speaker.
Lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) filed a complaint against Ma and Huang Shih-ming to the SID on Sept. 9 over the leak, but the SID closed the investigation into Ma on Sept. 27.
Noting Ma’s remarks in the interview that he had talked to Huang Shih-ming by telephone several times after Sept. 6, Chen said the SID’s dismissal of the case against Ma only 18 days after receiving the complaint, and without summoning Ma and Huang Shih-ming for questioning, was “outrageous.”
Ma and Huang Shih-ming had committed obvious collusion with their telephone conversations after Sept. 6 as both were listed as defendants in the case, Chen said.
A president should not talk to a prosecutor-general about a specific case, Chen added.
“If Wang [Jin-pyng] had crossed a judicial red line with his alleged lobbying, to quote Ma, has Ma crossed that red line as well?” Chen asked.
There is another reason that Ma should have never have contacted the prosecutor-general in person — investigations of several cases involving the president were also ongoing, Huang Di-ying said.
Ma is listed as defendant in cases of property crimes of unknown origin, illegal wiretapping, leaks of secrets and cases related to the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) assets and the Dreamers (夢想家) rock musical in 2011, the lawyer said.
“A defendant should not contact a prosecutor at any time,” Huang Di-ying said.
If Ma and Huang Shih-ming had colluded over the telephone, Ma’s agreement to directly confront Huang Shih-ming in court is meaningless, he said, adding that was why Ma should pledge to take a polygraph test to see whether he was aware of the probe before Aug. 31.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
NOT IMMEDIATE: Taiwan has a chance to appeal the proposed 10 percent tariff before it starts, while other countries face a 12.5 percent tariff from the trade office Taiwan is among 60 economies determined by the US to have failed to impose or enforce a ban on the importation of goods produced with forced labor, according to a notice released on Tuesday by the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR), which proposed imposing an additional 10 percent or more tariff on them. The USTR in a statement said that following an investigation, it had determined under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 that the failure of the 60 economies to impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labor is
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS