A recent job reassignment by the Ministry of Justice of three Tainan prosecutors has been questioned by pan-green politicians as politically motivated, allegedly meant to influence the outcome of a judicial probe into vote-buying allegations involving Tainan City Council Speaker Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Lee is involved in bribery charges in both the city councilor and council speaker elections, with Tainan City Mayor William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) refusing to attend any of the municipality’s council meetings until Lee’s cases are settled.
The ministry on Wednesday last week approved the promotion and transfer list of 155 prosecutors and judicial officials to fill vacancies in judicial agencies and regional offices, following the convening of the Prosecutors’ Personnel Review Committee.
The announcement included 37 prosecutors transferred to second-trial courts, 56 to first-trial courts and 62 new prosecutors were put on probation-period assignments.
Those reassigned included Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office deputy chief prosecutor Tsai Li-yi (蔡麗宜); Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office’s “Crackdown on Black Gold” head prosecutor Chung Ho-hsien (鍾和憲) and prosecutor Chou Meng-hsiang (周盟翔).
DPP Tainan branch spokeswoman Chiu Li-li (邱莉莉) said Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) made the final decision on transfers and promotions of prosecutorial officials by circling names from the submitted list.
“On the surface, it might look like a routine job reassignment, but the timing was highly sensitive,” Chiu said.
“It made people wonder whether there was a hidden agenda. People are also likely to worry whether the moves would affect the pace and outcome of an ongoing investigation into Lee’s alleged vote-buying,” she said.
Chiu said that Chung and Chou were members of Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office’s “Crackdown on Black Gold” taskforce, who led police and judicial officials to seize a ballot box and other evidence during elections for Tainan City Council speaker and deputy speaker posts last year, adding that, along with carrying out the investigation into Lee’s alleged vote-buying, they were the prosecutors who laid charges of election fraud against Lee.
Although deputy chief prosecutor Tsai was not directly engaged in the probe, she was familiar with the case, Chiu said, adding that the trio’s removal from the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office could influence the court hearing and debates to invalidate Lee’s election to the speaker’s post.
“The timing and reassignment of the trio were highly coincidental and has made people question the political motives behind the move,” Chiu said.
Lai yesterday said the ministry’s transfer of the trio from Tainan was “incredulous, an unprecedented action,” adding that such move was highly unusual.
“I hope the new prosecutors taking up the probe can scrupulously adhere to the spirit of judicial independence,” he added.
In response to the charges, ministry officials said the move was normal and according to proper procedures for transfers and promotions.
Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office officials said the transfers and promotions were routine job reassignments by the ministry, and that, since prosecutors are guardians for people in a nation governed by law, they would handle all cases in accordance to “procedural justice,” based on the evidence and facts of each case.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS