Former National Science Council (NSC) deputy minister Shieh Ching-jyh (謝清志) yesterday filed a lawsuit against a prosecutor for malicious prosecution following his acquittal of corruption charges after a five-and-a-half year judicial ordeal.
Shieh, the first government official from the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration to be indicted on corruption charges in 2006, filed the lawsuit at the Taipei District Court against the Kaohsiung Prosecutors’ Office chief prosecutor, Kao Feng-chih (高峰祈), who was serving in the Tainan Prosecutors’ Office when Shieh was indicted.
Shieh told a press conference that he filed the suit so that “those who abused their judicial power would be held accountable.”
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Shieh, an aerospace engineering expert, was among 10 defendants indicted in December 2006 on corruption charges after Sheus Technologies Corp won a NT$8.05 billion (US$262 million) bid for a project to reduce the vibrations caused by high-speed trains that affected the Southern Taiwan Science Park.
He was ruled innocent on July 11 last year after prosecutors failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove his guilt. Shieh was awarded NT$300,000 in compensation for his wrongful imprisonment, which comes to NT$5,000 per day for the 60 days he spent in detention.
Every element of malicious prosecution is present in Shieh’s case: the manufacturing of charges, witness intimidation, subornation of perjury, leaking investigation information to the media and inappropriate detention, among others, lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said.
Lin Yen-hsu (林延旭), who worked under Shieh at the council, said at the press conference that when he had been questioned, Kao had turned off the audio and video recording midway through the session and told Lin that he would be released once he gave testimony against Shieh. Lin said he rejected the deal.
The case is the fourth in a string of lawsuits filed by former DPP government officials or politicians who were acquitted of corruption charges against prosecutors and judges for abuse of power, including former DPP lawmaker Wu Ming-min (吳明敏), former presidential advisor Wu Li-pei (吳澧培) and former Tainan mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財).
The lawsuits are part of a bid to highlight the need for judicial reform being made by a group of self-proclaimed “judicial victims” who say they have been the targets of a campaign of political persecution against former officials of the previous DPP administration.
There have been at least 14 cases in which one or more former officials in the DPP administration have been charged with corruption, but were found not guilty.
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
DEMAND: The government should enact regulations in line with Austria and Germany to incorporate vegan nutrition into school meals, an advocate said More than 1,000 people yesterday marched in Taipei to promote veganism, calling for legislation to incorporate vegan diets into school lunches and the national net zero emissions program. Participants gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building for the march, which was organized by the Vegan Action Network (VAN). Former ambassador to Chad Chiu Chung-jen (邱仲仁), actor Yankee Yang (楊子儀) and actress Cindy Lien (連俞涵) attended the event. VAN member Marianne Chao (趙梅君) said that the campaign aimed to urge the government to promote vegan diets across schools and government agencies via legislation and national policies, which would help build
RSS