Pan-blue lawmakers yesterday requested that Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) resign to avoid a conflict of interest as prosecutors continue their probe into the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp (KRTC) scandal.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) called on prosecutors to investigate Hsieh's possible role in the scandal, adding that the premier should come forward and explain what he knows about it.
Pan said that while the German firm Siemens was supposed to invest NT$1 billion (US$30 million) in the construction project, she was very curious to know why it put down only NT$500 million.
She also criticized the Presidential Office's investigation report as being "full of more questions than answers" and requested further inquiry into claims that former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (
As Hsieh was the mayor of Kaohsiung when Siemens was chosen to build the trains for the subway system, KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) said she would like to know what the relationship between Siemens and Hsieh is, as well as between Siemens and Chou Li-liang (周禮良), former director of the Kaohsiung Department of Rapid Transit Systems.
People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (
The limit had been set to encourage the private sector to contribute to the construction of transport infrastructure by investing more than 77 percent of the funding for Kaohsiung's subway construction system.
Under these circumstances, the bidding process should have been regulated by the Government Procurement Act (
The PFP legislator asked whether Chou and Hsieh had teamed up to allow six subcontracts to circumvent the law.
Chang requested Hsieh to respond to his questions as soon as possible and step down to avoid a conflict of interest while prosecutors continue their investigation.
Chang said that he will hand over the information he has obtained to prosecutors and hope that they immediately summon Hsieh and Chou for questioning.
In related news, Deputy Secretary-General of the Presidential Office Ma Yung-cheng (
Ma was defending a report released by the office last week amid criticism that it shed little light on the matter of allegations of misconduct by the former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general.
Ma said the report by the Presidential Office on Chen was an administrative investigation with the aim of determining whether Chen had ordered his subordinates to engage in improper activities.
"The report is aimed at finding out whether Chen has improperly instructed his subordinates to conduct inappropriate conducts," Ma told the legislature's Organic Laws and Statutes Committee in response to the question filed by a committee member, KMT caucus whip John Wu (
According to the report, Chen went abroad on four occasions without applying for a leave of absence, and on a further two occasions failed to complete the leave application procedures.
During this period, Chen also allegedly ordered a staff member in the Presidential Office's accounting department to handle his personal financial dealings, including stock transactions.
The staffer also provided her personal account, which Chen used to purchase 180,000 shares of a company on the over-the-counter market.
The report further said that Chen made 18 overseas trips during his stints as Presidential Office deputy secretary-general between 2000 and last year and later as a national policy adviser to the president. He only applied for leave for 12 of those trips.
The six unauthorized trips took place on May 29, 2001, to Vietnam; Nov. 1, 2002, to South Korea; Feb. 27, 2003, to Indonesia; Dec. 6, 2003, to Vietnam; June 9 last year, to Vietnam; and March 17 this year to Vietnam.
Independent Legislator Chiu Yi (
Also at issue is whether the Presidential Office had prior knowledge of Chen's trips and what their purpose was.
KMT legislators Lee Ching-hua (
Ma said he knew nothing about whether or not Chen has a second passport and suggested that Chiu obtain the information from the Bureau of Immigration.
According to Presidential Office records, Chen took leave 17 times while he was deputy secretary-general and eight times while serving as the president's policy counselor, including five trips to Vietnam, two to Thailand and one to Indonesia.
Upset by Ma's attitude, Chiu said that he was helping his "master," apparently referring to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), to "purge the black sheep in the herd."
"I don't think we need your help in this regard," Ma said.
Ma said that "wiretapping, searches, or even looking into the information of bank accounts" is the business of prosecutors and investigators.
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