Two judges -- including one presiding judge -- and three prosecutors were yesterday found guilty of misconduct by the Control Yuan for conducting stock-market transactions during office hours. The presiding judge and one of the prosecutors were also found guilty of making dishonest declarations of their assets.
The judges are Taipei District Court presiding judge, Jen Ming-chu (任鳴鉅), and former Taipei District Court judge, Lin Cheng-hsien (林政憲). The prosecutors are Wen Hung-tzai (翁宏在) of the Taipei District Court, Lee Chi-hsiang (李吉祥) of the Panchiao District Court (板橋地方法院), and Yang Wen-ching (楊文慶), a former Taipei District Court prosecutor and current director of legal affairs at the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC).
In their report announcing the decision, Control Yuan members Huang Wu-tzu (
Golfing buddies
Chen and the five, according to the paper, frequently travel overseas together to play golf.
Chen is reported to have fled to China last July after the Taipei District Court began investigating him on suspicion that he had embezzled NT$70 million of Well-Phone Securities' money.
The Control Yuan's report says that the five all hold accounts with Well-Phone and that telephone records show that they contacted Chen and members of his staff during office hours.
The report says that Chen invested large sums of money for the five, including around NT$671 million for presiding judge Jen between 1995 and 1999.
Although Jen denied trading during office hours, the report dismissed the denial saying that Chen had admitted to a Judicial Yuan official during a criminal investigation into the case in 2000 that "Jen called him in person to ask him to buy and sell stocks" during office hours.
The Control Yuan also found that Jen and Wen dishonestly reported the value of their stock holdings when declaring their assets, as required by the Public Functionary Assets Disclosure Law (
Lin admitted to Control Yuan members that he had traded stocks during office hours, but said that this had not affected the work of the judiciary.
Current regulations expressly forbid the trading of stock by public servants during office hours.
The report said, "The five are judges and prosecutors, who are expected to meet particularly high moral standards."
It adds, "Their conduct has seriously influenced their official business."
Discipline committee
The five will be referred to the Committee for the Discipline of Public Functionaries (公務員懲戒委員會) for punishment, which will involve either demerits or dismissal. Judges enjoy lifetime tenure and can only be dismissed if the committee demands such punishment for cases of misconduct, or if convicted of a criminal offense.
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