Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday filed a lawsuit against President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) over the leaking of secrets in a wiretapping scandal, saying that the Ma administration’s “governance by secret agents” has to be stopped.
Accompanied by DPP lawmakers, Ker filed the lawsuits at the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, accusing Ma of instigating the leaking of secrets and leaking secrets, and Huang of several offenses, including leaking secrets, defamation, leaking personal information, providing false statements, malicious persecution and suppression of evidence.
“This is the first lawsuit I have filed in my life, but it is one I have to file because I want to end the evil of governing by secret agents with this lawsuit and tell Taiwanese how the Ma administration has resorted to wiretapping and manipulation of the judiciary to oppress the DPP,” Ker said.
Photo: David Chang, EPA
Ker said he filed the lawsuit with the aim of securing evidence — the Special Investigation Division’s (SID) wiretaps, which were used by Ma and Huang to accuse the veteran lawmaker of asking Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) to lobby for him in a legal case, as well as records of telephone calls between Ma and Huang, who he suspects of conspiring against Wang and himself.
Huang’s announcement that Wang and Ker had been involved in misconduct at a press conference on Sept. 6 kicked up a political storm, in which Ma has been accused of pursuing a political vendetta against Wang and the DPP, and infringement of the constitutional mechanism. The SID has been accused of excessive and illegal wiretapping of the legislature.
Ma and Huang have also been questioned about their meetings and telephone conversations, which some legal experts say were a violation of the Constitution.
Photo: CNA
Citing the example of the Watergate scandal in the US, Ker said former US president Richard Nixon was forced to resign when a court demanded that Nixon hand over the wiretaps and that was why securing the evidence would be important.
“I have never been someone who likes to sue people, but I can only secure the evidence and directly confront the defendants as a litigant,” Ker said.
While the Bureau of Investigation claimed that it did not begin to tap the DPP caucus whip’s phone until March 19 last year, Ker insisted that he has been bugged for more than five years.
Ker said he had not filed the lawsuits to benefit himself, but for the whole nation as “governance by secret agents should be eliminated and constitutional order restored.”
Meanwhile, the Alliance of Wiretap Victims, most of its members assistants to lawmakers, yesterday told a press conference that it had launched a petition and plans to file a lawsuit against the SID demanding compensation of up to NT$300 million (US$10 million).
By wiretapping the telephone conversations of the entire legislature, the SID had violated the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法) and the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法), the alliance said.
“[The wiretaps] are a disgrace to democracy and a disgrace to Taiwan. Ma, Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and Huang should immediately step down,” said Chiang Chao-kuo (江肇國), a lawmaker’s assistant.
A TAIWAN FIRST: The duo are the first badminton players from Taiwan to climb an Olympic podium, and Tai Tzu-ying has a shot at doing the same today Taiwanese badminton duo Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) yesterday won the nation’s first Olympic gold medal in the sport when they prevailed over a third-seeded Chinese pair in the final of the men’s doubles at the Tokyo Olympics. Lee and Wang, both first-time Olympians, defeated Liu Yuchen (劉雨辰) and Li Junhui (李俊慧) 21-18, 21-12 in a 34-minute final at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza. As of yesterday, Taiwan had bagged seven medals in Tokyo — two golds, two silvers and three bronzes — topping its previous best of five medals in 2000 and 2004. Taiwan moved to No. 17 in the
NO ‘ONE CHINA’ LIE: The appropriations act passed the US House of Representatives with a vote of 217-212, but still needs Senate approval and the president’s signature The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a foreign assistance spending bill with an amendment forbidding that funds be used to create, procure or display maps depicting Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China. The amendment was introduced by five Republican representatives — Tom Tiffany, Steve Chabot, Scott Perry, Kat Cammack and Mike Gallagher — and passed unanimously in a bundle with a dozen other amendments. “This is a common sense measure,” Tiffany said, speaking on the House floor on Wednesday. “As we all know, Taiwan has never been part of communist China. The Taiwanese people elect their
‘TEAM TAIWAN’: Taiwanese athletes have performed admirably and raised the nation’s profile, but many abroad still think they are Chinese, an advocate said Advocacy groups have called for the national team to compete under the name “Taiwan” at the Tokyo Olympics, while former Olympian Chi Cheng (紀政) has launched another referendum petition on the issue. Taiwanese athletes have performed outstandingly at the Olympics and have raised the nation’s profile on the world stage, Northern Taiwan Society chairman Lee Chuan-hsin (李川信) said on Friday. “Many foreign news agencies, including Japan’s NHK, have called our delegation ‘Taiwan’ instead of ‘Chinese Taipei.’ Therefore our own people and politicians should also speak of ‘Team Taiwan’ and Taiwanese athletes,” he said. “However, in Taiwan, most of the time the Taiwanese team
THE HOME TEAM: DPP Legislator Kao Chia-yu said she canceled her booking for an AstraZeneca shot as soon as she heard that the Medigen vaccine was an option President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said that she would get inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by Taiwan-based Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗). Tsai wrote on Facebook that she had registered for her first vaccine dose using the national online COVID-19 vaccination booking system, which allows people to indicate their preferred vaccine brand and to make an appointment when the shot becomes available. Tsai said that she opted for the Medigen vaccine — one of three now available on the system, along with the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines — even though Medigen has yet to deliver any doses or provide a
RSS