The Control Yuan yesterday passed a motion to impeach nine naval officers involved in the July 2016 accidental firing of an anti-ship missile that hit a fishing boat, killing the captain and injuring three crew members.
The Control Yuan, the government branch in charge of investigating wrongdoing by officials and government agencies, held a similar review session in July last year after a motion was filed to impeach the nine officers, but the motion failed.
After 11 newly appointed members took office, the Control Yuan was able to call a new vote on the case, which can be done as long as there are nine members present and the nine voting are different from the members who voted on the motion the first time.
The Control Yuan impeached Lieutenant Commander Lin Po-tse (林伯澤) and his deputy, Lin Ching-chi (林清吉), of the navy’s Chinchiang-class corvette from where the missile was fired, along with Rear Admiral Hu Chih-cheng (胡志政), head of the navy’s 131st Fleet, and six others.
The firing of the missile, which is deemed to have resulted from human error, happened because of a failure to follow standard operating procedures.
Immediately following the incident in 2016, the Navy punished seven of the officers involved with demerits.
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