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Political appointees to undergo background checks

Political appointees will be added to the list of officials required to undergo background checks before taking office if the Legislative Yuan approves a pending bill, an Investigation Bureau official said yesterday.

Existing regulations published by the Ministry of Civil Service only require background checks on career civil servants in charge of security affairs or affairs involving major national interests, said Pan Hung-mou (潘鴻謀), a section chief at the bureau.

A draft law proposed by the ministry that has been forwarded to the legislature for consideration would expand the checks to all types of civil servants, including political appointees, Pan said.

Speaking during a meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary, Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, Pan was responding to a call by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) that the Investigation Bureau conduct comprehensive checks on all Cabinet members, especially on whether they are citizens of, or hold permanent residency rights in, a foreign country.

Wong and the DPP have challenged the allegiance of certain officials in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration who either once held, allegedly still hold or have applied for a US green card.

In particular, the DPP has demanded the resignation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊), who obtained US permanent resident status in 2005 while serving as the ambassador to Guatemala, but renounced the status one month before assuming his ministerial position on May 20.

Wong yesterday questioned the Investigation Bureau’s failure to conduct background checks on Ou while he served as an ambassador.

Wu Ying (吳瑛), deputy director-general of the bureau, said that the regulations governing background checks on civil servants took effect on Aug. 29, 2003, before Ou had been appointed ambassador to Guatemala.
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