Prosecutors said yesterday that investigations into several former ministers' use of their discretionary fund were nearing completion and several former officials may be indicted for corruption.
Prosecutors from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said that they had interviewed some 10 former ministers from the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government on Friday.
These include former minister of justice Morley Shih (施茂林), former minister of economic affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆), former minister of the interior Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) and former minister of transportation and communications Tsai Duei (蔡堆).
Prosecutors said that some of these former officials were suspected of using fraudulent receipts to claim reimbursements from their special allowance fund in violation of the Criminal Law.
Prosecutors said they also planned to interview Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials who served before 2000 on their use of discretionary funds.
These would include then premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) and vice premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄). Siew is now the vice president and Liu the premier.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on September indicted former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮), former DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun and former National Security Council secretary-general Mark Chen (陳唐山) on suspicion of misusing their special allowance funds.
Lu, Yu and Chen were charged with corruption and forgery. Their cases are pending in the Taipei District Court.
Then KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) faced similar charges early last year. Prosecutors accused him of misusing a special fund while serving as Taipei mayor from 1998 to last year.
A district court accepted his argument that by law the fund was an official subsidy and acquitted him in August.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or