Deputy Minister of Justice Tsai Pi-chung (蔡碧仲) is to become acting Hualien County commissioner, replacing Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁), who has been sentenced to eight months in prison for stock market manipulation, Cabinet spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said on Friday.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court rejected Fu’s appeal against the prison sentence, ruling that he must serve his term and closing the case.
Fu was relieved of his post on the same day under the Local Government Act (地方制度法), which stipulates that local government heads be removed from their positions if they are convicted of a crime that carries a prison sentence.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
In a statement, Kolas said that Tsai would leave the Ministry of Justice and officially assume the Hualien post tomorrow.
As acting county commissioner, Tsai is to ensure the continuity of local policies and maintain administrative neutrality.
Tsai, a law graduate from National Chengchi University, has extensive administrative qualifications and has served as a prosecutor in Penghu, Yunlin and Chiayi counties.
In other news, Hou Kuan-jen (侯寬仁), who in 2007 indicted then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on charges of embezzlement, was on Friday appointed as deputy director of the justice ministry’s Agency Against Corruption.
Hou had accused Ma of siphoning NT$11 million (US$357,607) from his special mayoral allowance during his time as Taipei mayor (1998-2006), but Ma was cleared of the charges in court.
Hou in 2010 received a low grade from then-minister of justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) for “inaccuracies” on affidavits in the Ma case.
The negative assessment has affected his career over the past eight years, Hou said on Friday, adding that the new appointment represents a “restoration of justice.”
He said that he did not regret taking over the Ma case, because as a member of the judiciary, one must have a sense of right and wrong.
“Cases will be handled as they should,” Hou added.
Minister of Justice Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) on Friday also confirmed the appointment of ministry Administrative Enforcement Agency Director-General Leu Weng-jong (呂文忠) as the next Investigation Bureau director-general.
The position has been vacant since Tsai Ching-hsiang was selected to head to justice ministry in a July Cabinet reshuffle.
Leu said the appointment came as a surprise, but he is fully aware of the new responsibilities that await him.
Ahead of the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 24, his first priority after taking office would be to ensure that the polls proceed without a hitch, he said.
It has yet to be announced when Hou and Leu are to take up their new positions.
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,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS