Chen touts anti-corruption agency

In a meeting with former commissioner of Hong Kong's Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) Bertrand de Speville yesterday, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) reiterated the DPP administration's intention to set up a special agency to crack down on official corruption and graft.

Speville now runs a private company offering governments and private bodies advice on anti-corruption affairs.

During the meeting Chen repeated that the eradication of official corruption and the shady links between politics and organized crime were his most important campaign promise.

"We hope to set up a Hong Kong-style independent agency to crack down on corruption," Chen told his guest.

For his part, Speville said an anti-corruption agency should be put under the direct jurisdiction of the highest possible executive to avoid the interference of too many political forces.

Speville went on to say that the integration of various anti-corruption units into an independent agency is necessary to ensure its operational efficiency.

The establishment of an anti-corruption administration was a common policy platform of all major competitors in last year's presidential election. Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) immediately after his appointment declared the government's policy of setting up the new agency under the ministry.

But the draft law concerning the establishment of the agency faces opposition resistance in the legislature. Some KMT lawmakers argued that it would be better for the department to be formed under the relatively toothless Control Yuan rather than the more formidable justice ministry. Ministry officials, meanwhile, have complained that the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau is said to have resisted the ministry's proposal for the new anti-corruption agency since the new group looks set to co-opt some of the bureau's powers.

But both Minister Chen and the head of the investigation bureau, Wang Kuang-yu (王光宇), denied any such complaints.

After being excluded from the agenda of the legislature several times, the draft law is now in the committee discussion stage and continues to make painfully slow progress.