The legislature yesterday passed a resolution to refer three officials, including former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), to the Control Yuan for impeachment.
The impeachment move is a reaction to a decision in January by Chang's Cabinet to use a fund earmarked for the decommissioning of nuclear power stations to bankroll the severance pay of laid-off employees of a state-run company.
The other two implicated officials are Lin Hsin-yi (林信義), who was then the economic affairs minister and Lin Wen-yuan (
According to the resolution, the Cabinet's decision violated the Budget Law because the fund was not spent in accordance with the budget's designated purposes.
The resolution stated that the Cabinet must stop appropriating money from the fund to support the lay-off plan of the China Shipbuilding Corp (CSC) and should return the money that had been appropriated.
Opposition legislators and the administrative branch have argued over the matter for the past few months, with the Cabinet insisting that its decision was lawful.
Officials of the Ministry of Economic Affairs have argued that the NT$120 billion fund was mainly earmarked for the demolition and disposal of the three existing nuclear power plants, and the money would not be needed until the nuclear power plants had ceased operating.
For this reason, the ministry proposed to the Cabinet in January that NT$9 billion be appropriated from the fund to bankroll the severance pay of employees dismissed by the CSC.
In response to the Legislature's move, Chang issued a statement last night saying that the resolution would harm the morale of civil servants who have the courage to make the right decisions.
Chang said that because China Shipbuilding Corp suffered yearly losses of over NT$3 billion, the Executive Yuan chose to adopt a downsizing program by appropriating NT$9 billion which was earmarked for the decommissioning of nuclear power stations in a bid to save the company.
Chang stressed that the fund was used as a loan and would have to be reimbursed by the state-run company with interest.
Given that China Shipbuilding Corp has moved into the black after the downsizing program with a surplus of NT$114 million so far, Chang concluded that his decision was appropriate.
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