Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday attended a court hearing at the Taipei District Court over a 2013 wiretapping case, while Taiwanese independence groups protested outside, demanding that Ma be imprisoned over alleged abuses of power and illegal activities.
It was Ma’s second appearance as a defendant in the case since leaving office in May last year.
Ker, who filed the case, accused Ma of contravening the Criminal Code, the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊監察保護法) and the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in connection with alleged wiretapping of telephone conversations between Ker and then-legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
Photo: CNA
Ma smiled but did not answer reporters’ questions when heading into the courtroom yesterday afternoon, escorted by security personnel.
The court also called former prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) and Lin Yu-chen (林有振), Ma’s personal secretary in 2013, for cross-examination.
“I call on Ma to stop his arguing and quibbling. He should have some dignity. If not, he will face judicial punishment and will certainly be judged by bianshi (鞭屍),” Ker told reporters, referring to a traditional Chinese punishment for disgraced dead political figures, whereby the corpse is exhumed and publicly flogged.
Ker said that the case is to “defend the nation’s constitutional system” and “rid the governance of a secret-police state.”
“Ma abused his authority and violated the Constitution. Prosecutor-general Huang conducted wiretapping on the Legislature. These actions cannot be tolerated in a democratic nation,” Ker said. “This is a litmus test for judicial reform.”
“In this case, Huang was found guilty last year, which means Ma should not escape prosecution,” he said.
The court hearing aimed to clarify a telephone call on Sept. 1, 2013, when Ma allegedly instructed Lin to call Huang and request a lunch meeting the following day, during which Huang allegedly told Ma confidential information from the wiretapping.
Outside the court, supporters of Taiwanese independence held a rally to demand that the judiciary charge Ma and sentence him to prison. About about 200 police officers were on site to control the crowd.
Taiwan Independence Party Chairman Huang Kuo-huang (黃國華) said the first step toward judicial reform is to prosecute Ma for his numerous illegal activities, manipulation of the justice system and abuses of power.
“Taiwanese will not accept a justice system that gives such leniency to Ma, who is an unscrupulous and corrupt politician. We see justice has not been served. Ma has broken the law many times and he must be imprisoned to serve time for his wrongdoings,” Huang said.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS