Several prosecutors have recently been detained or released on bail on corruption charges, damaging the reputation of the nation's legal system. With the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) having launched an investigation into another 27 prosecutors, the profession is coming under fire, with some saying prosecutors have too much power and that institutional flaws are behind the problems.
A lead prosecutor at Kaohsiung's Taiwan High Prosecutors' Office, Chang Hsueh-ming (
At the Taipei Prosecutors' Office and Kaohsiung Prosecutors' Office, for example, Chang said that each prosecutor handles 80 to 90 criminal cases a month. With about 100 prosecutors in each of the two offices, the head and lead prosecutors are too busy to oversee every case.
As a result, Chang said, prosecutors are able to decide whether or not to indict defendants, meaning that they enjoy more power than the law actually gives them.
After former Yunlin County prosecutor Hsu Wei-yu (
Shih has asked head prosecutors nationwide to carefully review the cases handled by their offices.
Shih acknowledged that among the roughly 1000 prosecutors nationwide, some are bound to be corrupt and he has asked head prosecutors to pay more attention to prosecutors' personal lives.
Shih said that former Chiayi prosecutor Sung Tsung-yi (
Hsu Wei-yu is another example. Evidence shows he often dined and went to hostess clubs with local police and gangsters, Shih said.
Shih said "prosecutors' personal lives can, to a certain degree, reveal whether or not they are clean."
Shih has asked head prosecutors to report to the ministry if prosecutors are found to have close relations with gangsters, those who run illegal businesses or local police.
Shih said that as part of a crackdown on bad prosecutors, the ministry has launched an investigation on another 27 prosecutors."
Chang said the nation's prosecutors have enjoyed more power since the implementation of a law in September 2003 that allows indictments to be suspended (緩起訴).
Chang said that under the law, prosecutors can suspend an indictment if the defendant has committed a minor crime or admits guilt.
Chang said the law was introduced to reduce the number of criminal cases sent through the legal system. It has effectively reduced prosecutors and judges' work burdens, but also gave prosecutors new rights.
"It is hard to prevent prosecutors from accepting bribes in exchange for suspending a defendant's indictment," Chang said.
Chang said when the law was drafted, some legal experts had been concerned that it might cause corruption problems, but the law was still passed.
Shih said that some prosecutors like to cultivate relations with police and agents of the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau (MJIB).
But experience has shown that this kind of cooperation often leads to collusion between the two sides.
Shih said that Hsu, who led an investigation by police into a multi-million dollar professional baseball game-fixing scandal, is suspected of betting on baseball games with the officers. Hsu is also accused of taking and sharing bribes with police officers who had worked with him for several years.
Shih said that former Kaohsiung prosecutor Chen Cheng-ta (
Shih said that two agents from the MJIB who had worked with Chen were also detained, on suspicion of being involved in the fabricated charges.
Kaohsiung prosecutors have said Chen charged the two men with weapons smuggling in order to apply for a reward offered by the ministry to those who uncovered weapons smuggling.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS