The legislature's Procedure Committee yesterday approved the People First Party's (PFP) amendments to the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (
The PFP made the modifications in a bid to respond to public concerns over controversial articles in the statute.
The PFP's version now stipulates that the committee can conduct an investigation for three months. If necessary, this can be extended for another three months only.
The original statute passed by the legislature does not limit the investigation period.
The new version also eliminates one section that allowed the committee to circumvent certain regulations, including the Law of National Secrets Protection (
While the statute stipulates that the committee is entitled to demand all documents related to the shooting from the agencies concerned, the amendment stipulates that to obtain documents related to cases being reviewed by the court system, the committee first needs the court's approval. The court cannot reject the demand without providing proper justification.
The amendment also requires the committee to seek the approval of the Ministry of Justice or Ministry of National Defense before borrowing a prosecutor or military prosecutor to help with the investigation. The two ministries cannot reject the request without good reason.
The amendment also creates a deputy convener position in the committee. The deputy convener will be chosen from among the committee members and will function as the convener if the convener cannot take the post for any reason.
If both the convener and deputy convener are prevented from holding the post, the committee can choose another member to take the position. The amendment also allows prosecutors to participate in the committee, in contrast to the original statute's exclusion of all public sector personnel.
The PFP's modifications were offered based on suggestions made by former Judicial Yuan president and committee convener Shih Chi-yang (
Shih promised on Monday that the committee would operate according to the Constitution and the law for a maximum of six months.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus had also offered its version of the statute again yesterday as an amendment, but this was not approved by the committee, which is dominated by pan-blue lawmakers.
The legislature will inform lawmakers of the amendment during the sitting this Friday. If there are no objections, the amendment can then be reviewed in related committees.
In related news, President Chen Shui-bian's (
The pan-green side had originally proposed to hold an extra sitting on Oct. 7 for the address, but will now be forced to change the date and return the proposal to next week's Procedure Committee.
Meanwhile, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng promised Minister of National Defense Lee Jye (
But there was no mention of the actual budget during the meeting.
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