Campaigners yesterday announced plans to file lawsuits against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) as his presidential immunity from prosecution is about to expire.
At a forum hosted by the Taiwan Forever Association, association director Steve Wang (王思為) said his group would join the Northern Taiwan Society and Taiwan Association of University Professors today calling for prosecutors to launch investigations into alleged power abuse and corruption by Ma, and calling for prosecutors to restrict Ma from leaving the nation until investigations are concluded.
“While there have been many important criminal cases that have occurred during Ma’s terms as president and Taipei mayor, criminal investigations have been put on hold because of his immunity from prosecution while president,” Wang said, adding that Ma’s immunity would end once his term ends on May 20.
The lawsuit applications focus on Ma’s role in the leaking of details in a controversial wiretapping investigation of former Legislative Yuan speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), unexplained increases in his personal wealth while in office and the allegation that he worked to the benefit of corporations during his time as Taipei mayor, Steve Wang said.
Lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), another Taiwan Forever Association director, said the Taiwan High Court’s final ruling on wiretapping charges against Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) stated that Ma had instigated Huang to leak information related to the case, as well as leaking information himself.
“Huang would not have leaked the information to [then-premier] Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), if Ma had not called him on Sept. 14, 2013, to ask him to leak it,” Huang said. “The weight of the materials in the ruling does not just point to a strong suspicion that Ma was implicated — the evidence is so clear that he has to be held responsible.”
Huang Shih-ming last year paid an NT$457,000 fine for violating the confidentiality of an ongoing investigation by revealing the results of the investigation to Ma, an action that raised questions over whether it opened the possibility for the abuse of presidential power.
Taipei Clean Government Committee member Jerry Cheng (鄭文龍) said there was also evidence that Ma had illegally profited the Farglory Group (遠雄集團) by agreeing to reduce the firm’s property royalties to zero for the Taipei Dome project at a secret meeting with company chairman Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄).
Taiwan Forever Association secretary-general Kao Yung-cheng (高涌誠) said that there were also questions about the increase of Ma’s reported assets while in office, adding that increases had outstripped his income when donations were taken into account.
Restricting Ma from leaving the nation while investigation is under way was reasonable given treatment of former Democratic Progressive Party president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who was detained during an investigation into corruption allegations after he left office, Kao said, adding that Ma matches the criteria used to detain Chen, including strong suspicion of criminal wrongdoing, substantial national influence and possibility of flight.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS