Former Control Yuan president Wang Tso-yung (
Wang said the agency should instead be under the auspices of the Control Yuan because the targets of the administration's anti-corruption crackdown are civil servants rather than civilians.
The Control Yuan is the nation's top watchdog body, empowered to investigate irregularities involving government employees under Taiwan's five-branch constitutional framework.
"If we are to set up an anti-corruption agency, it must be under the Control Yuan. Otherwise, it will infringe upon the power of the body and damage the constitutional system. This is a very serious matter," Wang said.
In addition, Wang said that the anti-corruption agency should be independent from the administrative branch and be non-partisan.
"The minister of justice and his deputy both have political backgrounds and cannot exercise their duties independently," Wang said.
The Ministry of Justice has submitted a bill to the legislature which calls for the establishment of an anti-corruption agency under its authority.
Some have speculated that Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) came up with the idea for the agency because he does not have control over the ministry's Investigation Bureau. The ministry shares authority over the bureau with the National Security Bureau.
The ministry's bill has been stalled in the legislature for weeks because of objections raised by the majority KMT caucus, reportedly because Investigation Bureau officials, who maintain close relations with the party, have secretly lobbied KMT lawmakers to block the bill.
The KMT caucus has explained that it is not against the establishment of an anti-corruption agency but would prefer the agency be set up under the Control Yuan.
The caucus yesterday unveiled its own proposal, which is to be sent to the legislature for review. In this proposal, the status of the anti-corruption investigators in the Control Yuan would be equivalent to that of judicial police officers.
KMT legislator Ting Shou-chung (
Ting said the body should be invested with the power to probe suspicious increases in the value of those assets that could be a result of corrupt practices.
"It will be more effective to track corruption by investigating strange changes discovered in the value of government officials' assets," Ting said.
Ting also said the proposed anti-corruption agency's functions will not overlap with those of the Government Ethics Department within the Ministry of Justice, because the staff of the latter are trained in political espionage, rather than anti-corruption work.
Meanwhile, Wang said even with the establishment of the anti-corruption agency, the Control Yuan will still need to refer government officials suspected of involvement in criminal activities to the judiciary for trial.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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