Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh's (施明德) anti-corruption campaign yesterday proposed an amendment to the Anti-Corruption Statute (貪污治罪條例) that would include an article which stipulates government officials who live in luxury explain where their wealth came from.
The proposed amendment also includes a regulation allowing prosecution of the president and the first family for crimes committed during their term, after the president leaves office.
The Constitution protects the president from prosecution for criminal acts but he can be prosecuted for acts of rebellion or treason.
The campaign said that an article allowing the prosecution of non-government personnel who help government officials commit corruption has also been added to the proposal because in many corruption cases, government officials find a third party willing to accept blame for any improper conduct so they can evade punishment.
Anyone who refused an investigation into their property would be punished.
Campaign organizer Yao Li-ming (姚立明) told a press conference that requiring government officials to explain the origin of their wealth is a global trend and was an important way of telling whether someone is corrupt.
The UN Treaty against Corruption passed in 2003 regulates that government officials need to explain how they manage to live such a lifestyle if they obviously cannot afford to do so according to their income, Yao said.
John Wei (魏千峰), who is also an organizer of the campaign, said that over the past decade, many international organizations have come to regard "fighting corruption" as a basic human right and therefore such an article does not contradict the legal principle of "innocent until proven guilty."
Shih told the press that his campaign had been discussing how to help the country establish a sound judicial system.
He said he hoped the proposal would be put on the legislative agenda in the Procedure Committee meeting to be held today, moved directly to a second reading on the legislative floor by Friday and passed into law by Dec. 9, the same day of the year-end mayoral election.
Shih's campaign, led by campaign organizer Wei Yao-chien (魏耀乾), visited party caucuses in the legislature after the press conference.
The proposal gained the support of all party caucuses, with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus and People First Party caucus endorsing it.
The Non-Partisan Solidarity Union also showed its support for the proposal, while the DPP and Taiwan Solidarity Union caucuses said they supported the proposal but hoped Shih's campaign could also support the recovery of the KMT's stolen assets.
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