Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) came under fire in the legislature yesterday over his handling of Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng’s (王金平) case.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) and Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) proposed abolishing the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. The bill was reviewed in a meeting of the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee yesterday.
Huang, who attended the meeting, was under fire by legislators over his handling of Wang’s case.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井) said Huang violated the law by wiretapping DPP Legislator Ker Chien-ming’s (柯建銘) telephone and reporting the case to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
“I absolutely support the bill abolishing the SID,” Liao said, becoming the first KMT legislator to back the proposal.
“How long have you wiretapped me?” Ker asked Huang. “How could you violate the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法) by wiretapping me and releasing my phone transcripts to the public?”
“Other legislators and I all suspected we have been wiretapped for years,” Ker said.
“The monitoring of Ker’s telephone was authorized by the Taipei District Court, starting on May 16 and finishing on Sept. 5,” Huang said.
“As the SID said before, the case originated when we probed bribery allegations involving former Taiwan High Court judge Chen Jung-ho (陳榮和). We found Ker might be involved and wiretapped Ker’s phone in accordance with the law,” he said.
“How many times have you violated the law by reporting on the investigation to President Ma?” Ker asked Huang.
“I went to Ma’s residence twice to report on the matter involving Wang. The first time was on Aug. 31 and the second was on Sept. 1,” Huang said.
“I reported to President Ma after the investigation was finished and I concluded it was only administrative misconduct,” Huang said.
“Because public figures at the highest level were involved in the lobbying, I had the responsibility to report it to the head of the state,” Huang said, citing Article 44 of the Constitution, which stipulates how the president must handle a consultation in case of disputes between two or more branches of government.
Huang also revealed that the SID wiretapped Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office Prosecutor Lin Shiow-tao (林秀濤) during the investigation.
The alleged misconduct was raised by the SID at a press conference on Sept. 6, during which it said that Ker, after being found not guilty on June 18 of embezzling funds from Formosa Telecom Investment Co (全民電通) in 1997, allegedly asked Wang to lobby then-minister of justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) and Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office Head Prosecutor Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌) to use their influence to persuade Lin not to appeal the case with the Supreme Court.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the