Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) on Saturday called his meeting with Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) “a good start” in a statement that went on to criticize judicial officials for what he called the “unconstitutional” wiretapping of the legislature.
Wang’s meeting with Jiang on Friday, which lasted about 20 minutes, was a step forward in bridging the rift between the administration and the legislature, he said.
He expressed concern to Jiang over lawmakers’ repeated actions to prevent the premier from delivering a mandatory policy report, saying that “keeping the door open” for Jiang will help resolve communication issues between the two branches of government.
The statement also addressed the investigation that set off a chain of events resulting in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) revoking Wang’s membership, which if not provisionally sustained by a subsequent court ruling, would have rendered him ineligible to serve as a legislator-at-large or as speaker.
Wang blasted the wiretapping of the legislature’s switchboard by the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, which was revealed last month by Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
Ker made the revelation after a notice from a court informing him that the wiretapping of his phones by the SID had been discontinued following his acquittal in a breach of trust case listed the Legislative Yuan’s switchboard number as one of the lines under surveillance.
Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) has apologized for the incident, saying the wiretapping of the switchboard was a case of mistaking the phone number for a private cellphone.
“You cannot wiretap the legislature, not even for a second,” Wang said in the statement, adding that the move was a constitutional violation and demanding an explanation.
Huang, who is in charge of the SID, has also been charged with revealing classified information about an ongoing investigation by briefing President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on information about Wang and Ker gathered through the division’s wiretaps.
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