The replacement of the chief of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) was a routine, joint decision made by the ministry and the National Security Bureau, Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) said yesterday.
The ministry of justice made the comments yesterday to put to rest speculation that the shake-up -- made at roughly 10pm on Friday -- was politically motivated.
In a surprise announcement, Chen said Yeh Shen-mao (葉盛茂), deputy director of the bureau, would take over the position of bureau chief from Wang Kuang-yu (王光宇).
The announcement came on the same day as the Cabinet's approval of the decision.
Until yesterday, Chen had avoided commenting to the media on the switch.
Chen said, "We made the announcement suddenly and late in the evening because a reporter had observed Wang's visit to the ministry and might have run an exclusive story on the personnel change."
Chen added that the justice ministry just wanted to give the media the news as quickly as possible.
The justice minister added that he had purposely avoided explaining Wang's dismissal to avoid any comments from being misinterpreted.
Wang's dismissal has been widely attributed to his failure to cooperate with the justice minister on various issues. Last year, he told the Legislative Yuan that he did not fully agree with a decision to establish an independent agency to tackle corruption.
The fight against corruption is currently the bureau's responsibility.
Wang's replacement, Yeh, is also believed to be favored by President Chen Shui-bian (
There has also been speculation that the personnel switch was to allow President Chen to make use of the resources of the MJIB for political purposes.
On Tuesday, Vice Justice Minister Hsieh Wen-ting (
Seeing that this explanation had failed to quell media speculation that the change was politically motivated, the minister of justice made his comments yesterday.
The announcement Friday, which came after office hours, is said to have disappointed Wang, who on Sunday asked, "What was the justice ministry so hurried about?" He was also quoted as saying that he was "very unhappy" about the decision. Minister Chen had only told Wang about the decision on Friday afternoon.
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