Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (
Chen made the promise during a meeting of the legislature's Judicial Committee yesterday morning, after he was questioned by lawmakers about recent news stories on the alleged escapades of prosecutors in Kaohsiung and Taichung.
Three Kaohsiung prosecutors were investigated after it was reported they attended a party at a hostess bar, while a Taichung prosecutor's alleged Casanova lifestyle landed him in hot water.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen said that as far as he was concerned most stories of prosecutors "misbehaving" were just rumors. But, he said, the ministry will devise a strict list of punishments for errant officers of the law.
"I admit that some of our pro-secutors have not behaved themselves and we need to do some-thing," Chen said. "The ministry will introduce the new prosecutors' evaluation act within six months to remove those who do not perform well or whose behavior embarrasses the judicial system."
He said that the act would introduce a formal evaluation system for prosecutors, though it was too early to say what form it would take.
Song Kuo-yeh (
However, there is no definition of what constitutes "inappropriate activities." Individual incidents are decided on an ad hoc basis by the ministry's Inspection Department.
Article 81 of the Constitution prohibits the firing of judges or prosecutors unless they are found guilty of a criminal offense or are formally disciplined. But there are no regulations defining what would constitute a disciplinary offense or penalty.
Nevertheless, Chen has been quick to act in the cases of the four prosecutors who ended up in the headlines.
On Tuesday evening the ministry's Inspection Department announced the results of its probes into complaints about the four.
The department said that prosecutors Chin Te-jin (
However, the ministry denied allegations that the party had been given by drug dealers.
The department also announced that the allegations that Taichung Prosecutor Chen Shun-ming (
On Wednesday night the justice minister decided to fire Chin and suspend Liu and Wang for five years. During the pair's suspension, they will not be paid nor will they be allowed to resign.
As for Chen Shun-ming in Taichung, Chen Ding-nan fired him yesterday morning.
However, DPP Legislator Kuo Wen-cheng (
"I have been told that other than going to hostess bars, many Kaohsiung prosecutors also gamble. Do you realize that, Mr. Minister?" Kuo said.
The justice minister asked Kuo to provide a list of names of prosecutors suspected of gambling and promised an investigation into the allegations as soon as a list was provided.
Gambling is illegal in Taiwan.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching
POLICE INVESTIGATING: A man said he quit his job as a nurse at Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital as he had been ‘disgusted’ by the behavior of his colleagues A man yesterday morning wrote online that he had witnessed nurses taking photographs and touching anesthetized patients inappropriately in Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital’s operating theaters. The man surnamed Huang (黃) wrote on the Professional Technology Temple bulletin board that during his six-month stint as a nurse at the hospital, he had seen nurses taking pictures of patients, including of their private parts, after they were anesthetized. Some nurses had also touched patients inappropriately and children were among those photographed, he said. Huang said this “disgusted” him “so much” that “he felt the need to reveal these unethical acts in the operating theater