Minister of Justice Lo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) yesterday said that a task force set up to investigate the wiretapping controversy involving the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) started operations yesterday and that she hoped a conclusion could be reached as soon as possible.
Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) said the task force has retrieved documents from the SID and the Taipei District Court on the wiretapping case. It will also summon officials from the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau in charge of wiretapping work for interviews, he added.
Vice Minister of Justice Tsai Pi-yu (蔡碧玉), who was named the convener of the task force assembled the previous day, said she and the 10 other members — four justice officials and prosecutors and six legal experts — will discuss how the investigation should be conducted.
Tsai said that the investigation is administrative, rather than criminal, and will look into possible improper conduct by prosecutors.
Asked whether the task force would interview President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Lo said: “We might like to interview President Ma if it is really necessary, but because it is an administrative investigation, not a criminal one, we do not know whether Ma is willing to receive an interview.”
Concerns about the wiretapping conducted by the SID were raised after it was revealed on Sept. 28 that the legislature’s switchboard was monitored earlier this year.
The SID reported a case against former justice minister Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) and High Prosecutors’ Office head prosecutor Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌) to the Control Yuan and a Ministry of Justice review board for prosecutors respectively on Sept. 6 for allegedly issuing an instruction not to appeal a court case against Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
Tseng and Chen allegedly acted after receiving calls from Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), the SID said, citing evidence including telephone records and recordings gathered from eavesdropping on Ker’s telephone conversations.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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