Members of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday announced that they would push for a major amendment to the Criminal Code to remove the statute of limitations on murder cases and fugitives of major economic crimes, to close legal loopholes so victims and their families can have hope that justice will be done.
DPP legislators Wang Ding-yu (王定宇), Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) and Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said they would introduce the bill in the coming legislative session.
“The judiciary should not close unsolved cases after 20 years, as the perpetrators are still at large and victims are denied justice. We have seen too many unsolved murder cases. Our society cannot accept this and we will strive to rectify such injustice,” Wang said yesterday at a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
The legislators’ endeavor came after calls for the judiciary to renew investigations into several high-profile cases which could be terminated by prosecutors as their 20-year statute of limitations runs out in weeks.
Wang and Liu cited the execution-style murder of eight people including then-Taoyuan County commissioner Liu Pang-yu (劉邦友) on Nov. 21, 1996, and the murder of Peng Wan-ru (彭婉如), director of the DPP Women’s Affairs Department, on Nov. 30, 1996, with both cases unsolved and the killers not identified.
The statute of limitations passed for Liu’s case last week, while Peng’s case is to expire tomorrow.
Although the legislature passed an amendment to the Criminal Code in 2005 to extend the limitation from 20 years to 30 years for serious crimes involving charges applicable for capital punishment, life term or a sentence of more than 10 years, Wang said that did not go far enough.
“The Liu Pang-yu case, in which eight people were killed, and Peng’s murder are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other murder cases which do not involve well-known people and did not receive as much attention,” Wang said.
“However, the murderers are still at large, and they are still living and enjoying life somewhere. Justice is denied to families of the victims, and they continue to suffer and have difficulty going on with their ruined lives,” he added.
Legislators also want to close loopholes on fugitives, most of whom flee to live and work in China, for major economic crimes including fraud, illegal transfer of company assets and deception of investors.
The bill would also revoke the statute of limitations, specified in Article 80 of the Criminal Code, for white-collar crimes in which offenders have made more than NT$100 million (US$3.14 million) in illegal profits.
Revoking the time limitation on murder cases and major economic crimes would bring Taiwan’s justice system in line with that of the US, Japan and European countries, legislators said, adding that the move has received support from the New Power Party caucus and some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers.
“The law is too lenient and the judiciary was negligent or mishandled some cases in allowing major financial criminals and convicted business tycoons such as Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪), Tseng Cheng-jen (曾正仁) and Ho Chih-hui (何智輝) to flee to China. They were able to live in comfort in China on their ill-gotten money, which was defrauded from thousands of individual investors. Many people are disgusted at such a travesty and perversion of the justice system,” Tsai said.
The three convicted economic criminals referred to by Tsai were prominent KMT members.
Chen Yu-hao was the boss of Tuntex Group, Tseng was the chairman of Taichung-based Kuangsan Enterprise Group and Ho was a KMT legislator from Miaoli County.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS