The Cabinet approved yesterday a draft statute that would authorize the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau to query public servants on their loyalty to the country.
“It’s necessary to set up a system to ensure that public servants whose jobs are related to national security and the interests of the nation are loyal to the country,” Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) said at the Cabinet’s weekly meeting. “There has been a significant increase in contacts between public servants and foreigners and Chinese. How to ensure the integrity and loyalty of those public servants is an issue of special concern to the country.”
PROPOSED LAW
The draft statute says that personnel in government agencies involved in jobs that pertain to national security and national interests would be subject to the new regulations, with the exception of elected public servants.
The Investigation Bureau would be entitled to conduct checks on officials at the request of the heads of government departments, the draft statute says.
COMPULSORY PROBE
The bureau would be required to conduct investigations into officials in ten categories without having to be requested.
The ten categories include officials who conduct exchanges with foreign intelligence agencies, officials and representatives that have dealings with China, Hong Kong and Macau, foreigners or persons without a nationality and people who were originally Chinese residents and have gained permanent resident status.
The scope of the investigation could be extended to the relatives of these officials, including their parents, spouses, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles and children, among others.
Officials found to be in violation of the loyalty rules would either be transferred from their position or dismissed from office, the statute says.
The Cabinet’s draft statute will now be sent to the legislature for review.
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