Acting Prosecutor-General Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) yesterday said that cases under investigation by the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office’s Special Investigation Panel (SIP) would not be delayed by personnel changes following the resignation of the former chief prosecutor, Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明), last week.
Tseng made the remarks during a visit to the prosecutor’s office by Legislator Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
Hsieh met Tseng, SIP spokesperson Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) and several other prosecutors and Ministry of Justice officials for three hours to discuss the progress of cases under investigation by the SIP and personnel changes following Chen Tsung-ming’s departure.
PHOTO: CNA
“Even though the post of the top prosecutor is currently vacant, SIP prosecutors have never wavered in their commitment to investigate the cases assigned to the panel,” Tseng said.
Hsieh later said that after talking with SIP prosecutors, he was confident that the progress of the cases under investigation would not be delayed as a result of personnel changes.
In response to rumors that all 14 members of the SIP wanted to leave the panel after Chen Tsung-ming resigned, Tseng yesterday said that he had not seen any resignations since he took over as acting top prosecutor.
Hsieh said there would be continuity in the SIP because it is up to the new prosecutor-general to decide whether the panel’s prosecutors would be asked to stay or reassigned to the posts they had before they joined the panel. Meanwhile, he said, all prosecutors remained part of the panel.
Chen Tsung-ming tendered his resignation immediately after the Control Yuan impeached him last week.
The government watchdog voted 8-3 to impeach Chen Tsung-ming, citing concerns over his “integrity” and “sincerity” in leading the SIP’s probe into alleged corruption involving former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and his family.
On Monday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) nominated Deputy Minister of Justice Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) to replace Chen Tsung-ming as top prosecutor.
Since many of the panel’s prosecutors have worked under Huang in the past at the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office, it is widely expected that they will stay on if Huang assumes the post.
The panel probes major cases and has led the investigation into the former first family. It reports directly to the prosecutor-general.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai