The Control Yuan is to pass the member lists of its seven permanent committees today and elect new conveners for each committee to replace those appointed under the former administration.
Current committee conveners, as well as the majority of committee members, were elected under the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The new members are expected to scramble for control of the Committee on Judicial and Prison Administration Affairs and subsequently block requests for constitutional interpretations of pension reforms which were passed last month, a Control Yuan source said on condition of anonymity.
The committees are also expected to reopen investigations into past cases involving Ma, including the MeHAS development project, the unfinished Taipei Dome, Fubon Bank’s takeover of Taipei Bank and former prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming’s (黃世銘) illegal wiretapping case, in which he was convicted, the source said.
When 11 Control Yuan members nominated by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in January, they were limited in their choice of committees they could join, as most of the committees were already filled with members nominated under Ma, the source said, adding that today’s passing of new committee member lists would change this.
The new committee members would start work next month, they added.
Old committee members are expected to have the advantage in electing conveners for most of the committees given their higher number, the source said.
The Committee on Internal and Minority Nationality Affairs, the Committee on National Defense and Intelligence Affairs, the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee, the Committee on Financial and Economic Affairs, and the Committee on Communication and Procurement Affairs are likely to elect conveners from old committee members, the source added.
The Committee on Judicial and Prison Administration Affairs, and the Committee on Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs are likely to elect new members as conveners, the source said, adding that Tsai Chung-yi (蔡崇義) and Peter Chang (張武修) are likely to be elected as conveners of the two committees respectively.
Each committee can only have a maximum of 14 members, and the Committee on Judicial and Prison Administration Affairs has never had full membership, despite its importance in legal cases.
This year the committee would have eight new committee members and six old members, the source said.
Last month, committee member Chang Kuei-mei (仉桂美) proposed a constitutional interpretation of the military pension reforms, but the proposal has not been passed, the source said.
The proposal must be passed by the committee before it can be sent to the Council of Grand Justices, which is unlikely to happen with the change in committee members, the source said.
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