The Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s subpoena of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) could be illegal and politically motivated, the DPP said yesterday.
“Wu was listed as an ‘interested party’ in a recent subpoena from the SID... on which no details of the case were listed. The division appears to have violated the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法),” DPP spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) told a press conference.
According to the code, the SID should have listed the origin of the case and the identity of the subpoenaed — be it a witness or a defendant, Huang said, adding that “interested party” was not an identity as regulated by the code, which means that the subpoena could be illegal.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The DPP also suspected that there is a hidden agenda behind the investigation and the subpoena because the SID “is notorious for its interference in several high-profile political cases in recent years,” the spokesperson said.
That is why the division has earned the nickname “the investigation division with special motives,” he added.
“That is also why we cannot help but wonder whether there is any political agenda behind Wu’s subpoena, as the division chose to launch an investigation into a high-ranking official of the opposition party in the run-up to the seven-in-one elections in November,” Huang said.
DPP spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said Wu would discuss the matter with the party and his lawyers before deciding whether to report to the SID.
With regards to claims of a planned purge targeting high-ranking DPP officials, Hsu said the party preferred not to speculate or over-analyze the case at the moment, but the division’s past investigations against opposition politicians and the fact that the subpoena was issued on June 26, about a month after DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) assumed the part post, did not give the party any reason for optimism.
“Many DPP members have been able to survive judicial oppression, but their innocence was proven only after years of court appearances and trials. We hope nothing like this will happen before the year-end elections and the presidential election in 2016,” Hsu said.
In response, the SID denied that there were any political considerations involved in the investigation, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), reported.
The SID said the ongoing case in which Wu is involved is related to a violation of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), but that the division could not go into details.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesperson Charles Chen (陳以信) said the DPP had made allegations against the KMT and the judiciary without any solid evidence.
“The accusation itself is a cheap political maneuver orchestrated by the DPP,” Chen said.
The rumor that the KMT is trying to “annihilate” Tsai with the judicial investigation is a DPP smear campaign, which shows that the party wants to achieve its political goals even at the cost of losing public trust in the judicial system, the spokesperson said.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS