Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien said yesterday it would take him a year to improve the watchdog agency’s performance, which has often been criticized for wasting resources and lacking the impetus to look into high-profile cases.
Wang called for the legislature to support an amendment to the Organic Act for the Control Yuan (監察院組織法) proposed by the Control Yuan yesterday, saying that major revisions to its structure would enhance its function and efficiency.
The current act has not been amended since 1998.
The amendment calls for the Control Yuan to hire 180 more people who have passed senior exams for public servants without putting limitations on age.
Since the Control Yuan reopened in August after being dormant for more than three years, the number of complaints filed with its members has reached 2,458 a month, 1.64 times higher than the workload of a member in the last term and 2.67 times higher those in the second term, it said.
One member during the current fourth term will need to deal with 1,250 public complaints a year — not including those complaints deemed not worth investigating — 2.12 times higher than a member’s workload last term.
The Control Yuan has also proposed transforming the department of property declaration by public servants into a department in charge of the enforcement of the “sunshine laws” relating to the integrity of civil servants and political parties.
Since the amended Act on Property-Declaration by Public Servants (公職人員財產申報法) took effect in October, the number of public servants required to declare their property has risen from 1,800 to 8,700, which has increased the number of related cases from 2,000 to 13,000 a year, the Control Yuan said.
It said the additional 6,900 public servants were subject to the Act on Refusal of Public Servants Due to Conflicts of Interest (公職人員利益衝突迴避法).
The Control Yuan said it also needs to deal with about 1,000 cases a year related to political contributions since the Political Contribution Act (政治獻金法) took effect in March 2004.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Taipei chapter director Huang Chin-lin (黃慶林) and some fellow members filed a complaint with the Control Yuan yesterday, asking it to dismiss the Special Investigation Panel of the Supreme Court because of its “abuse of power” during its investigation into alleged corruption involving former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
The DPP members also urged that State Public Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) be impeached.
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