Fri, Dec 25, 2015 page1

• Public furious over corrupt prosecutor’s escape

  FINGER-POINTING: Kaohsiung prosecutors and court officials blamed each other for giving Ching Tien-po an opportunity to post bail, sell his assets and flee abroad

  • By Jason Pan / Staff reporter
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  Judicial officials and agencies yesterday pointed the finger at each after reports emerged that a former prosecutor convicted of corruption fled abroad late last month.

  The incident, which critics said is “a sordid stain on Taiwan’s justice system,” involves 56-year-old Ching Tien-po (井天博), who had served as prosecutor for 29 years and a spokesman for the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office.

  Ching was convicted of accepting bribes and other corruption charges, and was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison in a final ruling by the Supreme Court last month.

  

  Ching Tien-po, left, a former prosecutor at the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office, and two women cut a cake in a photograph obtained from a Kaohsiung seafood restaurant’s Facebook page. Ching, facing an 11-and-a-half-year prison sentence, is believed to have fled to Canada.

  Photo: Huang Chia-lin, Taipei Times

  However, when judicial officials visited his home to deliver his summons to start his prison term late last month, they discovered that Ching and his family had fled overseas, a report by the Chinese-language Next Magazine on Wednesday said.

  The report said that Ching — who had officially changed his name to Ching Shu-hua (井樹華) — and his family had fled to Canada, as he and his wife had acquired Canadian citizenship.

  Ching’s escape is a major embarrassment for the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption, which was tasked with keeping track of his movements.

  It is also a stain on the judiciary’s reputation because the prosecutors’ office and the local court in Kaohsiung, which should have placed him in custody, had released him on bail, giving him the opportunity to sell most of his assets and plan his escape.

  Investigators said that for many years Ching had abused his power and authority as a prosecutor to solicit bribes — cash, company shares, illegal drugs and other gifts — from businesses in exchange for using his influence in the prosecution of their cases.

  During his tenure as a prosecutor in Kaohsiung, Ching associated with members of organized crime and frequented venues that provided sex services, media reports said.

  Ching received more than NT$100 million (US$3.03 million) in bribes, which he used to purchase properties in Taipei and Kaohsiung.

  Reports of Ching’s disappearnace have sparked a wave of public fury, with many questioning the judiciary’s handling of his case.

  Some netizens commented that judicial officials “should be fired for sleeping on the job,” or “were protecting one of their own,” while others denounced what they described as pervasive corruption and a bribe-taking culture by some prosecutors and judicial officers.

  The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office issued a statement blaming the local court for releasing Ching on bail, despite his flight risk.

  The local court said that based on the office’s request, there was insufficient reason for the court to order that Ching be placed in custody.

  The court also issued a statement saying: “We regret the individual in question has fled from prosecution.”

  Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) said that the current judicial mechanism to prevent major criminals from absconding was not working.

  “It is costly to implement, but we have little result to show for it,” she said.

  “After the ruling by the Supreme Court, the mechanism in place has no authority to conduct searches, and cannot restrict the individual’s movement. Those under surveillance can still go shopping, attend a concert and visit friends. Therefore, judicial officials have difficulty [preventing them from fleeing],” Lo said.
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