A panel of judges dealing with the embezzlement and forgery case involving first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) and President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) former and present aides said on Friday it would announce on Aug. 10 whether it will subpoena Chen to clarify key points raised by the defendants' lawyers.
The lawyers defending Ma Yung-cheng (
Ma and Lin are facing accusations of forgery in the "special affairs fund" case, which involves the funds set aside for the president's discretionary use.
The lawyers said Chen was the principal figure in the case, as Ma and Lin had not acted of their own free will while carrying out requests by Chen.
The lawyers said that only Chen was in a position to provide clarifications on certain conflicting points.
Chen, who enjoys constitutional immunity from prosecution, has not been indicted.
Despite this, the defense lawyers have said that the real defendant in the case is Chen, not the aides.
Noting that the Council of Grand Justices has already clearly stated in a constitutional interpretation issued on June 15 that criminal investigation, prosecution and trial of the president are illegal, the defense lawyers said it was regrettable for judges to have allowed the trial to proceed.
They also said it was unfortunate the judges had not yet responded to Chen's request for the court to return files taken from the Presidential Office.
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
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
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