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.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS