The Control Yuan yesterday rejected a motion to impeach State Public Prosecutor-General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) over his alleged mishandling of the case against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) by a vote of 6-6.
Control Yuan members Chien Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君) and Lee Ful-dien (李復甸), in charge of an investigation into Chen Tsung-ming after he was accused of “dereliction of duty,” yesterday proposed impeaching the top prosecutor.
Based on their investigations, the two Control Yuan members said that Chen Tsung-ming had violated the Civil Servants Work Act (公務員服務法) and the Prosecutors Code (檢察官守則).
They accused him of failing to prohibit the first family’s physician Huang Fang-yen (黃芳彥), who prosecutors allege played a role in corruption by the former first family, from leaving the country.
Huang went to the US in 2008 and has been on a wanted list since March.
Chien Lin and Lee said Chen Tsung-ming had often met people involved in Chen Shui-bian’s cases, including Tsai Chu-hsiung (蔡竹雄), a construction magnate and owner of the Polaris Garden Plaza, the first family’s former residence.
The Control Yuan members described Chen Tsung-ming’s meeting with these parties as “inappropriate” and said that he “lacked awareness” of Huang’s plan to leave.
Hung Te-hsuan (洪德旋), another Control Yuan member who jointly investigated the matter, disagreed with Chien Lin and Lee.
Hung said that the Control Yuan did not find solid evidence to prove that Huang fled to the US because Chen Tsung-ming had divulged information to him.
“We are still looking into the matter,” Hung told reporters.
Chen Tsung-ming has denied all the accusations, which were mainly raised by the Chinese Nationalist Party Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅).
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
RSS