The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has accepted the resignation of the Judicial Yuan Department of Government Ethics Director Huang Tung-hsun (黃東焄) over a scandal concering alleged profiteering on the purchase of military housing units along with his wife, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Jennifer Wang (王如玄).
Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) yesterday said that the resignation had been approved after Huang on Wednesday tendered an official letter of resignation to his superiors at the Judicial Yuan.
“Huang was quite determined to resign. So I did not try to persuade him to stay on,” Luo said. “He wanted to resign to avoid trouble for his supervising officials. I urge people not to complicate this matter and not to create a political issue.”
Officials said Huang is to return to his old job as a prosecutor at the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office.
The Judicial Yuan’s Agency Against Corruption, which is responsible for appointing the head of the Department of Government Ethics, confirmed they had received Huang’s letter of resignation on Wednesday and had convened an internal meeting to deliberate the matter.
Despite efforts to stem negative publicity, Huang and Wang have been accused of undeclared real-estate assets, purchasing of military housing units for profit and paying minimal rental costs living in residency for government employees.
There had been calls by legislators and members of the public for Huang to be removed from his position, since the allegations have undermined his credibility as the Department of Government Ethics director.
Wang held a press conference last month to explain the allegations and said that she was willing to donate the NT$13.8 million (US$417,739) profit made from the sale of the military housing units.
Wang has also been accused of abusing her authority as Minister of Labor from 2008 to 2012, by engaging in real-estate speculation over the buying nd selling of military housing units, despite the many restrictions placed on for non-military personnel.
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