The Presidential Office yesterday remained mum about whether President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) plans to pardon former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) after a Chinese-language magazine reported that she would do so before her term ends on May 20.
“The Presidential Office’s current position is still to ensure that former president Chen receives proper healthcare, and other pertinent matters would be handled based on the relevant regulations,” office spokeswoman Olivia Lin (林聿禪) said.
Mirror Weekly magazine yesterday published a cover story in which it detailed the Tsai administration’s deliberations on pardoning Chen, who was convicted of corruption for four bribery and money-laundering scandals committed while in office and was sentenced to a combined 20 years in prison.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
Chen was released on medical parole in 2015 after having served six years.
Despite being instructed by Taichung Prison not to give political speeches, comment on political issues, endorse political candidates or attend political events, Chen was reported to have breached each of the four conditions by attending a dinner hosted by Taiwan Brain Trust, appearing at his son’s campaign rally when he ran for Kaohsiung city councilor, accepting a request for an interview from Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun and commenting on political issues on Facebook.
The prison’s continuous extension of Chen’s medical parole — 38 times — has damaged the dignity of the judicial system and divided the nation, the story said, adding that as such, Tsai has decided to pardon the former president and the office is following legal procedures to do so.
To reduce repercussions that might arise from the pardon, the government would ask the judicial system to confiscate the proceeds Chen and his family gained from their criminal activities — NT$1.1 billion (US$33.98 million), the story said.
The pardon would not extend to suspended criminal trials in which the former president and his former staff at the Presidential Office have yet to be convicted, it said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said that the caucus has no further information on the potential pardon, adding that it respects the authority of the president.
“For the DPP caucus, the most important thing before May 20 is to hope for a smooth transition between the old and new Cabinets, and good exchanges between the executive and legislative branches,” Wu said. “This would ensure that good policies would be proposed and implemented at the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan.”
The Ministry of Justice said that it has yet to receive orders from the Presidential Office or Executive Yuan to begin considering the possibility of pardoning Chen.
However, the ministry emphasized that a pardon is a privilege that the president is entitled to exercise toward convicted criminals, who would then be exempt from serving prison sentences.
The record of conviction would not be expunged despite the presidential pardon, it said.
Prosecutors can petition a judge to confiscate the entire criminal proceeds gained by Chen and his family under a new system that the ministry has implemented since 2016 in accordance with the Criminal Code, the ministry said, adding that the proceeds would not be returned even if Chen were to be pardoned.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said that Chen has been convicted in some cases, but he also has pending lawsuits.
“If the presidential pardon were to apply to all these cases, people would not know the truth,” Hung said.
“We have no idea why President Tsai would choose to pardon Chen before her second term ends, rather than during her tenure as president. However, people need to know the truth. Chen should only be pardoned when he admits he is guilty of all the crimes he committed and all the lawsuits against him are finalized,” he said.
KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said that Tsai should tell the public which crimes she plans to pardon.
“Many lawsuits against Chen are suspended because he has been on medical parole for an unspecified duration. Tsai should explain whether these unsettled lawsuits should resume after the presidential pardon,” Lo said.
Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said that Tsai should explain why she needs to pardon Chen, rather than leaking the information to news media to influence public opinion.
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Friday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SUPPLY CHAIN: Taiwan’s advantages in the drone industry include rapid production capacity that is independent of Chinese-made parts, the economic ministry said The Executive Yuan yesterday approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion (US$1.44 billion) into domestic production of uncrewed aerial vehicles over the next six years, bringing Taiwan’s output value to more than NT$40 billion by 2030 and making the nation Asia’s democratic hub for the drone supply chain. The proposed budget has NT$33.8 billion in new allocations and NT$10.43 billion in existing funds, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Under the new development program, the public sector would purchase nearly 100,000 drones, of which 50,898 would be for civil and government use, while 48,750 would be for national defense, it said. The Ministry of
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
RSS