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Cabinet selects 65 priority bills

The Executive Yuan has identified 65 priority bills that will be presented to the legislature for deliberation, including an amendment that would subject public servants to criminal prosecution for failing to disclose the full extent of their assets, Executive Yuan Secretary-General Hsueh Hsiang-chuan (薛香川) said yesterday.

The Legislative Yuan will convene its second session next Friday and is expected to go into recess early next year.

The bills will be referred to the legislature in separate stages, Hsueh said.

Hsueh told a press conference that the selection of the 65 bills was in line with the major policies the government hoped to implement during the legislative session.

Deputy Minister of Justice Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘), also present at the press conference, said the ministry proposed an amendment to the Statute for the Punishment of Corruption (貪污治罪條例) and an amendment to the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) to ensure clean politics.

The amendment to the Statute for the Punishment of Corruption proposes a three-year prison sentence for cases in which large amounts of money or other assets are found registered in the name of public servants, their spouses or their underage children and the official in question refuses or fails to clearly explain the origins.

A public servant could be charged with violating the Statute for the Punishment of Corruption if his or her total assets were found to exceed what the official had declared in accordance with the Public Functionary Assets Disclosure Law (公職人員財產申報法).

The amendment does not define such a case as corruption, as it is in Britain, Hong Kong and Singapore, where undeclared assets are considered possible evidence of corruption or bribery, Huang said.

“The stipulated sentence for corruption is between five and seven years, which puts it on the level of a felony charge. Being convicted of corruption is bad for a public servant’s reputation, so after considering the matter we imposed an obligation on public servants to explain the sources of their assets, as required by the Civil Servants Work Act [公務人員服務法], to ensure integrity,” Huang said.

Huang said that the amendment, if approved by the legislature, would not apply to the case of alleged money-laundering involving former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his family so as to conform to the ex post facto principle.

The ministry said property from unknown sources could be seized or confiscated, while the public servants could be asked to make repayments or pay compensation.

Minister Without Portfolio Kao Su-po (高思博) said the amendments would give prosecutors more effective tools to investigate corruption.

The new regulations will effectively combat corruption because public servants would not be able profit from corruption and would have to pay a high price for the crime, Ko said.
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