President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was summoned by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday evening as a witness in a case involving Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming’s (黃世銘) alleged leaks of details of an investigation into allegations of improper lobbying against Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chang (羅智強) were also subpoenaed as witnesses last night.
Ma, Jiang, Huang and Lo were questioned individually.
Photo: Taipei Times
Ma is the second sitting president to testify as a witness. Then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) testified in Hualien County as a witness in a corruption case in 2004.
Neither Ma nor Jiang appeared before reporters after their visits to the prosecutors’ office and did not issue any statements.
However, Huang, who has been listed as a defendant in the investigation, said he is innocent.
Photo: Taipei Times
“I have no regrets at all about what I did. I did not do anything wrong that let Taiwanese down, nor did I do anything that has tarnished the position of prosecutor-general. I am sticking to what I have done and I will keep doing it,” Huang told reporters after he was questioned.
Lo declined to reveal details of his testimony, saying: “It takes courage to stand on the same side as Ma, which is the side of the minority at this moment.”
He resigned on Sept. 12, citing the improper lobbying scandal, as well as family and personal reasons for his decision to quit.
The prosecutors’ office began its investigation yesterday after several lawyers and citizens filed lawsuits against Huang over the alleged leaking of secrets in the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division’s (SID) probe into a case involving Wang and Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
The prosecutors summoned Ma to clarify the details of meetings he had with Huang on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, five days before Huang called a press conference to accuse Wang of the misconduct.
Ma has previously defended the legitimacy of his private interactions with Huang and dismissed allegations that he had instructed Huang on how to handle the allegations against Wang, but said that, as a citizen, he was obligated to testify in court. He also said that his testimony would be able to help prosecutors and he did not think his appearance before them would have a negative effect on the presidency.
The Presidential Office notified the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday afternoon that Ma was available to report to the office last night. Ma arrived at the prosecutors’ office at about 8pm, taking a secret passageway to avoid reporters. Huang was already being questioned when Ma arrived.
Both Ma and Huang have said that the allegations against Wang involve administrative misconduct and that it is not a criminal case.
‘NO EQUILIBRIUM’: Taiwan’s increased defense spending is a good step, but it needs to do more to have the ability to deter aggression from China, a senior US official said The US plans to sell as many as seven major weapons systems — including mines, cruise missiles and drones — to Taiwan, four people familiar with the discussions said. Pursuing seven sales at once is a rare departure from years of precedent in which US military sales to Taiwan were spaced out and carefully calibrated to minimize tensions with Beijing. However, US President Donald Trump’s administration has this year become more aggressive with China, and the sales would land as relations between Beijing and Washington are at their lowest point in decades over accusations of spying, lingering trade tensions, disputes about the
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: Several of the PLA fighter jets that crossed the median line of the Strait came within 68km of Hsinchu, drawing warnings from Taiwan, the ministry said At least 18 Chinese military aircraft yesterday flew into the nation’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on the second day of a US delegation’s visit, the Ministry of National Defense said, adding that the military responded by deploying an air defense missile system to monitor their activities. A delegation led by US Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach on Thursday started a three-day visit to Taiwan. The ministry from Thursday started publicizing the actions of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Taiwan’s ADIZ on its Web site and Twitter. According to ministry reports, 18 PLA aircraft
ON THEIR OWN: The KMT has decided not to participate as a party at this year’s forum, and if any members do go, they would not be representing the party, Alicia Wang said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday announced that it would not send a delegation “as a political party” to this year’s Straits Forum, after a Chinese TV program described the planned visit to the annual meeting as “suing for peace.” The 12th forum is scheduled to open in Xiamen, China, on Saturday. On Tuesday last week, the KMT announced that former legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) would lead the party’s delegation to the forum, with KMT Secretary-General Lee Chien-lung (李乾龍) as deputy head. However, on Thursday last week, China Central Television’s (CCTV) Yangshipin (央視頻) program, hosted by Li Hong (李紅), included a headline
WORKING OVERTIME? NTU professor Lee Duu-jong denied that he had held a part-time position at a Chinese university or joined China’s Thousand Talents Program A candidate for the post of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) president yesterday dropped out of the race following a report questioning his links to Chinese academia and government programs. Lee Duu-jong (李篤中), a professor at National Taiwan University’s (NTU) chemical engineering department, was a member of China’s Changjiang Scholars’ Program in 2006 and was on the list of its Thousand Talents Program in 2017, a report by Chinese-language Mirror Media magazine said yesterday. The article said that Lee is suspected of having held a part-time job at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China and was the recipient
RSS