A recent proposal to relieve top officials who have allegedly misused special funds of legal liability will not affect investigations currently being conducted by the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Section (SIS), an official said yesterday.
SIS Spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) made the remarks yesterday in response to a proposal by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世), who said on Friday that he plans to propose legislation that would relieve government chiefs — except for the president — of liability for misusing their special allowance fund.
The draft bill would state that the use of special allowance funds by all government chiefs and deputy chiefs until the end of 2006 should be considered legal, and that any charges of forgery and other criminal violations related to using the funds prior to Dec. 31, 2006, should be dropped, Lin said.
Chen said yesterday that if the proposed amendment is passed and becomes effective, whoever was being investigated by prosecutors at that time would not be indicted and their cases would be closed. However, government chiefs indicted before the draft becomes law would have to go through the usual judicial process.
While declining to disclose the total number of cases related to special allowances, Chen said the SIS prosecutors have divided all of these cases into two categories.
The first category involves Cabinet members who served under the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government and the second category is composed of Cabinet members who served under the previous KMT government.
Investigations into the portion of cases concerning the DPP are almost complete, he said, declining to give more details citing a gag order.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all