Sworn in a year ago with a declaration of war against "black gold" -- the complicity between corrupt politicians, public officials and gangsters and the manipulation of public affairs by the underworld -- the DPP government and its Ministry of Justice are receiving mixed reviews for their efforts.
Sue Wang (王時思), Executive Director of the Judicial Reform Foundation (民間司法改革基金會), said Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan's (陳定南) achievement in "keeping prosecutors free of influence from outside [the prosecution system]" should be acknowledged.
"However, the long-running problem of prosecutors' abuse of power has finally been exposed to the public," Wang said.
She said some prosecutors, especially those in the Special Investigation Forces, which were established last July 1 for the specific purpose of fighting black gold crimes, have gone too far in violating suspects' human rights during investigations -- a complaint echoed frequently over the past year. An example she gave was the search of the China Times Express (中時晚報) newsroom last October.
In the incident, the newspaper published interrogation records regarding National Security Bureau Colonel Liu Kuan-chun's (劉冠軍) embezzlement case. Prosecutors suspected that the paper possessed a pertinent confidential document and launched the search.
The incident in large part pushed the legislature in January to amend the law to deprive prosecutors' of the power to independently launch searches. The amended articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure will take effect on July 1.
"In the debate over a prosecutors' right to instigate searches and amid the prosecutors' resistance to the changes, Chen still claimed that the passage of the amendment would mean that the country surrendered to black gold.
Age: 58
Experience: Assistant Supervisor of Nan Ya Plastics, Sales Manager of shoe manufacturer and exporter, CEO of shoe trading company, Ilan County Commissioner for two terms, Legislator for four terms.
Successes: Insuring justice system against outside intervention.
Failures: Not establishing a mechanism to improve prosecutors' job performance or increasing resources for prosecutors.
Grade: A
"This tells us that Chen's notion of human rights remains limited," Wang said.
Wang said Chen has defended prosecutors too much even when they have acted inappropriately. "This is unreasonable," she said.
"Prosecutors have rarely campaigned for things other than what concerns their own rights. They must introspect more about the quality of their law enforcement work."
The foundation therefore "relatively" supported Chen during the reshuffle last month of 21 prosecutors general, Wang said.
The reshuffle is believed to be Chen's response to questionable investigative behavior by a number of prosecutors and has so outraged some prosecutors that they have threatened to withdraw from the special investigation forces.
"Sometimes when changes bring resistance from within the system, it means you have to carry out the reform in spite of opposition and challenge those currently influential."
"The point is that Chen must be responsible for the result of the reshuffle, namely, whether it improves prosecutors' performance in the future."
As for the Ministry's achievement in cracking down on black gold, Wang said it is still too early to judge.
"We can't yet say how much time and effort the war against black gold will take. Even for cases where an indictment has been promulgated, it's hard for us to judge whether the prosecutors have gathered sufficient evidence," she said.
"We are now more concerned with whether the proper procedures are followed."
She said, however, that the indictment of Taichung County Speaker Yen Ching-piao (顏清標) for corruption and the progress of several vote-buying cases are major achievements for the government in the anti-black gold effort.
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