The Control Yuan yesterday voted seven to four to impeach National Taiwan University (NTU) president Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) for allegedly breaching the Civil Servant Work Act (公務員服務法) by writing opinion pieces for the Chinese-language Next Magazine (壹週刊) while serving as minister without portfolio.
Control Yuan members Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟), Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇), Fang Wan-fu (方萬富), Lin Sheng-fong (林盛豐), Walis Perin, Peter Chang (張武修) and Yang Fang-wan (楊芳婉) voted for the impeachment, while members Wang Mei-yu (王美玉), Liu Te-hsun (劉德勳), Chang Jen-hsiang (章仁香) and Chiang Ming-tsang (江明蒼) voted against it.
An investigation into Kuan’s allegedly illegal work was launched by Control Yuan members Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲) and Tsai Chung-yi (蔡崇義) in April last year.
Photo: CNA
The case is to be forwarded to the Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission.
According to a statement that Next Magazine submitted to the Control Yuan, while Kuan was a professor at NTU, he made a verbal agreement with the magazine that he would write opinion pieces in return for NT$50,000 (US$1,622) per month or NT$650,000 per year, Wang Yu-ling said yesterday at a news conference in Taipei, adding that the payments totaled NT$650,000 per year, because Kuan received an additional NT$25,000 every six months.
However, Kuan’s relationship with Next Magazine continued from 2010 to 2016, which was after his invitation to join the Cabinet as minister without portfolio, she said.
Kuan continued to regularly submit opinion pieces to the magazine anonymously while serving in the Cabinet from February 2012 to February 2015, during which time he was paid NT$1.9 million, she said.
By doing so, he breached Article 14 of the act, which prohibits civil servants from taking on outside work, she said.
Civil servants are allowed to submit articles to publications, but they can only do so occasionally, Tsai said.
Kuan said in a document submitted to the Control Yuan that he only wrote for Next Magazine at the magazine’s invitation and that he had never held any position at the magazine.
The Ministry of Civil Service in 2010 ruled that providing the media with information related to a position was only legal for a civil servant when the work was unpaid, Wang Yu-ling said.
Asked to comment yesterday, Kuan said that he would explain his position after reading the Control Yuan’s decision, adding that he had not yet been officially notified.
He said he would consult with his lawyers and confirm if they had submitted his statement to the Control Yuan.
Meanwhile, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said the ministry respects the Control Yuan’s decision.
“The case is in a preliminary stage and the ministry will not act on it until the decision passes a second review at the Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission,” he said.
Additional reporting by Ann Maxon, staff reporter
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they