The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that the government is “on the verge of collapse,” citing a string of poorly handled legal cases and President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration’s poor performance on the economy, and demanded a Cabinet reshuffle.
“The judiciary has only gone after pan-green politicians and turned a blind eye toward pan-blue politicians, ignored those cases that should have been investigated and carelessly handled the fabricated cases,” DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said.
During the past month, Su said, Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chi-fen (蘇治芬), DPP deputy secretary-general Lee Chun-yi (李俊毅) and former DPP secretary-general Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) have all been cleared of wrongdoing in corruption cases.
Meanwhile, prosecutors dismissed a corruption case centering around rock musical Dreamers (夢想家), which celebrated the centenary of the Republic of China and cost NT$215 million (US$7.15 million), as well as the role of Vice President Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), who served as premier, in the so-called Yu Chang case, Su said.
The investigation into former Executive Yuan secretary-general Lin Yi-shih’s (林益世) corruption case has been too slow and many people have begun to question the prosecutors’ motives, he added.
Additionally, the Control Yuan, which represents one of five separate powers in the Constitution, has become a “hired thug” to repress the opposition, he said, referring to the Control Yuan’s insistence on investigating former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who was accused of improprieties in the establishment of Yu Chang in 2007, but was cleared of wrongdoing last month.
“None of the prosecutors who abused their powers were held accountable and several branches of government have been dysfunctional. I would say this government is on the verge of collapse,” Su said. “All branches of government have failed to carry out their constitutional duties and meet people’s expectations. This is a bad omen and a precursor of a major collapse of government.”
Separately yesterday, the DPP filed a new complaint over the Dreamers case to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division, demanding the prosecutors reopen their investigation of former Council of Cultural Affairs minister Emile Sheng (盛治仁), Ma and Wu.
“We think the government officials obviously violated the Government Procurement Act (政府採購法) and leaked confidential information in the bidding process of the rock musical,” DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said.
DPP lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said that according to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Tuesday, Taiwan Association of Theater Technology (TATT, 台灣技術劇場協會), which won a contract in the case, knew confidential information about the public bidding, but prosecutors did not look into who leaked the confidential information to the TATT, he said.
Additional reporting by Rich Chang
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