Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) has suggested that the Special Investigation Division (SID) be abolished, 10 years after its establishment, which would return the investigation of high-level cases to prosecutors. Just as the division was born of political considerations, it is now being put to bed because of political considerations.
Ten years ago, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was still in power as the special state affairs fund case was exposed. The handling of the case was handed to the High Prosecutors’ Office’s corruption investigation center.
At the time, the opposition, of course, questioned the center’s determination to investigate the president.
After members of the pan-green camp later reported former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), the center investigated Ma in connection with his handling of special allowance fund during his time as Taipei mayor, in the end initiating public prosecution against Ma. Someone then suggested that the corruption investigation center be abolished and that the SID be set up under the supervision of the supreme prosecutor to investigate the head of state and the presidents of the five branches of government.
The SID was the result of public mistrust of the prosecutorial system and their wish for a strong system that would, without fearing the powerful, take on privileged politicians and big corporations. Because the SID was given the best prosecutors and the most resources and was not subject to external interference, political parties hoped to be able to control it and use it to attack their opponents.
Still, they are unhappy to see the SID investigate their own people and always complain that the SID only investigates the pan-blue or the pan-green camp, depending on which camp they belong to.
Unable to please anyone, the SID has become the target of public criticism.
Precisely because political interference has been too forceful, several prosecutors-general have had to step down. Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) was impeached by the Control Yuan and Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) was convicted of leaking classified information, so it is a bit surprising that it survived for so long.
In fact, both the prosecutorial system and the relevant laws and regulations allow prosecutors at the courts of both the first and second instance — the district prosecutors’ offices and the High Court Prosecutors’ Office — to conduct investigations, and there is certainly no need for the SID.
Furthermore, there is an overlap between the powers and jurisdictions of the SID and the prosecutors at the courts of first and second instance, which violates the principle that two agencies should not have the same duties. In addition, the SID is on the front line of any investigation and is in direct contact with the civilians and officials who are involved in a case. If the quality of an investigation is compromised, the whole prosecutorial system is beyond help.
Regardless of what one thinks of the SID, it is the target of public criticism. Both the blue and green camps want it abolished, meaning that Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will most likely do so.
From the establishment to the abolition of the SID, the government’s and politicians’ mistrust of the judiciary and the prosecutorial system has remained. Legislators and the general public might have had expectations of a beautiful future for the division, but these expectations were no match for the destruction wrought by reality. The past 10 years have shown how difficult it has been for the division to operate, and we would surely do well to rid ourselves of such an institution.
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