Control Yuan member Chen Shih-meng (陳師孟) yesterday launched an investigation of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for alleged abuse of power and interference in the judiciary over his administration’s probe of a prosecutor who indicted Ma on corruption charges when he was Taipei mayor.
The Control Yuan said in a statement that Chen intends to determine whether Ma went beyond his constitutional authority and interfered in the judiciary when he took action against High Prosecutors’ Office Prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen (侯寬仁) after being sworn in as president in 2008.
Chen also plans to investigate whether then-minister of justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰) was biased against Hou and whether office prosecutors responsible for an internal probe into Hou’s handling of Ma’s corruption case were influenced by the executive branch, the statement said.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Chen said he plans to interview Hou, Ma and Wang.
The Control Yuan was referring to Hou’s indictment of Ma in February 2007 over an alleged misappropriation of NT$11 million (US$376,313 at the current exchange rate) from Ma’s special allowance during his eight-year tenure as Taipei mayor.
Hou had appealed two lower courts’ not-guilty verdicts, until the Supreme Court made the ruling final in April 2008.
In January 2008, Ma filed a lawsuit against Hou, accusing him of malfeasance for fraudulently misrepresenting Ma’s witness statements. Hou was found not guilty.
In January 2010, Ma’s lawyer, C.V. Chen (陳長文) wrote an op-ed calling on the Ministry of Justice to seek compensation from Hou for what he called negligence in the handling of a 1997 fraud case.
Ma later reportedly instructed Wang to read the article and “clarify the matter.”
A month later, Wang asked the office to look into Hou’s handling of Ma’s witness statements.
When the office cleared Hou of any wrongdoing, Wang pressed the issue until the prosecutor was reprimanded.
Former deputy minister of justice Lee Chin-yung (李進勇) also made similar accusations against Ma in 2013.
Ma’s office yesterday said that C.V. Chen’s op-ed listed a number of suggestions for the judiciary, citing as an example a Control Yuan probe that found Hou guilty of several irregularities when handling the fraud case, which had been closed by the time the article was published.
“During his time as president, Ma often referred criticism and suggestions from various sectors of society to his Cabinet members, in the hopes that they could listen to public opinion and factor it into their policymaking process,” Ma’s office spokeswoman Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯) said.
Hsu said that if Chen Shih-meng equated listening to public opinion with interference in an individual judicial case, or launched the investigation into Ma only for the sake of doing so, his actions were bound to meet with public criticism.
Additional reporting by CNA
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued a sea alert for Typhoon Fung-wong (鳳凰) as it threatened vessels operating in waters off the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), the Bashi Channel and south of the Taiwan Strait. A land alert is expected to be announced some time between late last night and early this morning, the CWA said. As of press time last night, Taoyuan, as well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties had declared today a typhoon day, canceling work and classes. Except for a few select districts in Taipei and New Taipei City, all other areas and city
RSS