Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang‘s (呂學樟) proposal to change wording in the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) relating to breaches of official duty might be a veiled attempt to build a firewall around President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), several Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators have said, amid allegations that the president accepted an off-the-books political donation.
Media personality Clara Chou (周玉蔻) has accused Ma of receiving a NT$200 million (US$6.2 million) under-the-table political donation from scandal-ridden Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團).
The draft amendment, which Lu proposed last month and is set to be reviewed by the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee on Wednesday, seeks to change the term “breach of official duties” (違背職務) in the act to “breach of statutory official duties” (違背法定職務).
According to Lu, the adjustment is aimed at preventing the inconsistent interpretation of the term by courts, which he said at times interpret the violation as a “breach of statutory official duties” and other times as the “practical influence of position” (實質影響力).
However, the interpretation of the term as the “practical influence of position” has been adopted just twice in Taiwan’s judiciary history: In rulings in two graft cases against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), namely a money laundering case concerning a land deal in Taoyuan County’s Longtan Township (龍潭) and a financial consolidation case involving Yuanta Financial Holding’s (元大金控) merger with Fuhwa Financial Holding Co (復華金控).
DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said that while the Anti-Corruption Act does not specifically define “official duties” as “statutory” ones, this has become the Supreme Court’s custom.
Gao said given that Ma’s integrity has been compromised by the illegal donation claims, the amendment proposal is clearly part of the KMT’s efforts to build a firewall around Ma to prevent him from becoming the second former president to be jailed in the nation’s history — a fate that former DPP chairman Shih Ming-te (施明德), who led the 2008 anti-Chen “red shirt” protest, predicted would eventually befall Ma.
DPP Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡), a former district court judge, said the proposed amendment is bound to be criticized.
“The Supreme Court has always interpreted official duties as statutory duties, but the fact that it chose to maliciously distort the legal term and misinterpret it as practical influence of position in its handling of graft cases involving Chen makes any attempt to clarify the term now even more bizarre and bewildering,” Wu said.
Lu said the draft amendment is designed to ensure the clarity and stability of the law so that no one is subject to unjust treatment stemming from legal ambiguity.
“No specific person was taken into account when I proposed the amendment. After all, the one who stands to benefit from the amendment if it is passed is Chen,” he said.
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