Prosecutors' office says staffers at party

The Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office yesterday confirmed a report in a Chinese-language newspaper that three prosecutors attended a party hosted by drug dealers at a hostess club last year and said that the case was still being investigated by its inspection department.

The newspaper reported yesterday that three prosecutors, Chin Te-jin (秦德進), Liu Yun (劉昀) and Wang Chao-chen (王朝震), attended a party at the Jinhuadu KTV in Kao-hsiung on June 27 last year.

Ministry of Justice regulations forbid judges, prosecutors and law-enforcement officers from "attending inappropriate activities," which ministry officials said yesterday included visiting hostess bars and parties hosted by criminals.

KMT Legislator Cheng Feng-shih (鄭逢時) asked Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) for more details of the case during yesterday's meeting of the legislature's Judicial Committee. Chen said he had not been briefed on the case, but that the ministry will do what it is supposed to once the investigation has been completed.

"I wish to apologize to all citizens on behalf of the ministry for the misbehavior of these prosecutors," Chen said.

The Kaohsiung District Pros-ecutors Office said that the three men had attended the party at the invitation of friends, but were not informed that it was to be hosted by drug dealers.

"They left immediately when they realized it was a hostess club and that the party was hosted by drug dealers," said Chou Chang-chin (周章欽), a spokesman for the prosecutors' office.

"Our investigation also shows that they were not involved in any illegal deals," Chou said.

"But they'll still receive the appropriate administrative demerits for visiting a place they were not supposed to when our investigation is complete. The nature of the demerits will be decided by the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office," the spokesman added.