The Taipei District Court yesterday asked a number of current and former officials with the Pres-idential Office to appear in court as witnesses in next week's hearing on the "state affairs fund" case.
The court asked the officials to appear following a request by Prosecutor Chang Hsi-huai (張熙懷), one of the prosecutors in the "state affairs fund" case, in which first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) and three former Presidential Office aides -- deputy secretary-general Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成), secretariat director Lin Te-hsun (林德訓) and treasurer Chen Cheng-hui (陳鎮慧) -- were indicted on charges of corruption for allegedly embezzling NT$14.8 million (US$449,600) from the fund.
Chang asked the court to summon Presidential Secretary-General Mark Chen (
While Judge Tsai Shou-hsun (
Chang said prosecutors made the request because the Presidential Office refused to produce certain documents on the six diplomatic projects relating to the "state affairs fund" case after the court twice sent letters asking the Presidential Office to hand over the documents.
In both cases, the Presidential Office replied to the court that turning over the documents was a matter for the president himself to decide, not the Presidential Office.
Three lots of documents were sealed by Prosecutor Eric Chen (
The court has been attempting to clarify whether the diplomatic projects had been approved and later placed under the protection of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (
Chang also asked the court to summon doctors from National Taiwan University Hospital who are in charge of Wu's medical treatments, and asked for all of Wu's medical records from July to the present.
"We need thorough information about Wu's health condition to determine whether she is fit to appear at the hearing and what medical arrangements the court needs to prepare if she is in attendance," Chang said.
Attorney Yang Feng-wan (楊芳婉) argued that prosecutors should respect medical professionals.
In the end, Tsai said that the court had not decided whether to grant the prosecutors' requests in Wu's case.
Wu was absent from yesterday's hearing.
She has missed three hearings since falling ill during the court's first hearing on Dec. 15.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be