Taipei District Court Judge Lu Yu-jen (呂煜仁) yesterday ruled in favor of former minister of finance Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章) and dismissed charges that he violated the Civil Servants Work Act (公務員服務法).
Yen retired from his position as Taiwan’s representative to the WTO in March of 2005 and then took on the position of president of Fuhwa Financial Holding Co in June of the same year. He was indicted on April 10 this year.
Prosecutors said his conduct violated Article 14-1 of the act, which stipulates that retired civil servants cannot accept a top position at any private company they supervised during the five-year period before their retirement.
Yen served as the minister of finance from Oct. 6, 2000, to Jan. 31, 2002, and as the nation’s representative to the WTO from Feb. 1, 2002, to March 23, 2005.
Fuhwa’s license application was approved on Dec. 31, 2001, by the Ministry of Finance when Yen was finance minister.
Taipei District Court Spokesman Huang Chun-min (黃俊明) yesterday said the court found that Yen’s last day at work as a civil servant should be considered Jan. 31, 2002, because his position as the representative to the WTO did not give him the authority to “supervise” Fuhwa.
It also said that prior to accepting the offer from Fuhwa, Yen double-checked with the Ministry of Civil Service on whether he would violate any law.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
RSS