The nation’s top prosecutor said yesterday that his department has decided to take a lenient approach in the investigations of abuses of special allowance funds.
State Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) said he had convened a meeting of head prosecutors nationwide yesterday morning, and that high-level prosecutors concluded that unless they could prove without question that government officials spent special allowance funds for private matters and therefore committed corruption, they would not charge the officials.
Chen said the prosecutors would like to see the Legislative Yuan introduce a law detailing how special allowance funds should be used.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-TE, TAIPEI TIMES
Such a law would help prosecutors during investigations of special allowance fund abuse and aid judges during hearings involving corruption, Chen said.
More than 6,500 government officials are currently facing investigations into their use of special allowance funds.
The high-level prosecutors yesterday agreed a standard procedure for prosecutors’ investigating alleged corruption involving special allowance funds.
The Ministry of Justice said it would take a flexible approach and would not ask officials to list all their expenditure details.
The MOJ said that the special allowance fund should be seen as a “substantial subsidy” (實質補貼) to officials, and so a lenient approach whould be taken.
The ministry said that in the past it has been a unwritten rule that officials have flexibility when spending their special allowance fund.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS