Storm brews over anti-graft agency bill

Former Control Yuan president Wang Tso-yung (王作榮) yesterday characterized as unconstitutional a Ministry of Justice plan to set up an anti-corruption agency under its authority.

Wang said the agency should instead be under the auspices of the Control Yuan because the targets of the administration's anti-corruption crackdown are civil servants rather than civilians.

The Control Yuan is the nation's top watchdog body, empowered to investigate irregularities involving government employees under Taiwan's five-branch constitutional framework.

"If we are to set up an anti-corruption agency, it must be under the Control Yuan. Otherwise, it will infringe upon the power of the body and damage the constitutional system. This is a very serious matter," Wang said.

In addition, Wang said that the anti-corruption agency should be independent from the administrative branch and be non-partisan.

"The minister of justice and his deputy both have political backgrounds and cannot exercise their duties independently," Wang said.

The Ministry of Justice has submitted a bill to the legislature which calls for the establishment of an anti-corruption agency under its authority.

Some have speculated that Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) came up with the idea for the agency because he does not have control over the ministry's Investigation Bureau. The ministry shares authority over the bureau with the National Security Bureau.

The ministry's bill has been stalled in the legislature for weeks because of objections raised by the majority KMT caucus, reportedly because Investigation Bureau officials, who maintain close relations with the party, have secretly lobbied KMT lawmakers to block the bill.

The KMT caucus has explained that it is not against the establishment of an anti-corruption agency but would prefer the agency be set up under the Control Yuan.

The caucus yesterday unveiled its own proposal, which is to be sent to the legislature for review. In this proposal, the status of the anti-corruption investigators in the Control Yuan would be equivalent to that of judicial police officers.

KMT legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中), who is the initiator of the proposal, argued that it is practical to have the anti-corruption agency set up under the Control Yuan, in light of the fact that government officials are now required to declare their assets with the body.

Ting said the body should be invested with the power to probe suspicious increases in the value of those assets that could be a result of corrupt practices.

"It will be more effective to track corruption by investigating strange changes discovered in the value of government officials' assets," Ting said.

Ting also said the proposed anti-corruption agency's functions will not overlap with those of the Government Ethics Department within the Ministry of Justice, because the staff of the latter are trained in political espionage, rather than anti-corruption work.

Meanwhile, Wang said even with the establishment of the anti-corruption agency, the Control Yuan will still need to refer government officials suspected of involvement in criminal activities to the judiciary for trial.