The Executive Yuan said yesterday it has always believed in the innocence of Twu Shiing-jer (涂醒哲), acting director-general of the Department of Health (DOH). Twu was proved to be wrongfully accused of sexually harassing another man.
"Based on our familiarity with Twu's personality, we've always believed in his innocence," said Cabinet Spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢). "Besides, he dared to put his career on the line, which made us believe in his innocence even more."
Chuang also suggested that Twu may soon be promoted to the post of director-general as the five-day drama finally came to an end yesterday.
PHOTO: CHU YU-PIN, TAIPEI TIMES
"It makes sense to presume that this [promotion] may happen," he said.
Twu, who served as the director of Taipei City's Bureau of Health when Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was Taipei City mayor, succeeded Huang Fu-yuan (黃富源) as the DOH's deputy director-general three months ago.
He was chosen to take over leadership of the Department of Health in late August, following the resignation of former director-general Lee Ming-liang (李明亮).
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Speculation is rife that the sexual harassment allegation has been prompted by jealousy of Twu's rapid rise in the civil service hierarchy.
On Tuesday, Chinese-language media reported that Twu is a bisexual and that he kissed a man against the man's will during an event celebrating Twu's promotion at a KTV parlor. Twu then allegedly licked the ears of the individual and asked him to have sex with him.
PFP lawmaker Diane Lee (李慶安), who represented the alleged victim, Cheng Ko-jung (鄭可榮), presented a petition letter to the premier on behalf of her client during a legislative recess on Tuesday afternoon.
After showing Yu the name and social identification number of Cheng, Lee tore off that part of the letter to protect his privacy.
The premier then telephoned Twu to ask him about the matter. Twu told the premier that he has never been to any KTV parlor since he took office and that he was visiting his sick mother on the day of the incident.
Responding to a query by a KMT lawmaker on the legislative floor on Tuesday afternoon, Yu refused to investigate the matter, claiming the lack of the names of the people concerned.
Stunned by Yu's response, Lee called on the premier and Twu to stop lying and said that the complaint is not an anonymous one. She also released two recorded conversations on Friday to back up her charge and petitioned the Control Yuan to launch a probe into Twu's moral conduct.
Angry at seeing his reputation being tarnished, Twu pledged to take legal action against Lee, Cheng and media groups that spread false reports about him.
He also said that he would "immediately resign if the allegation proves to be true."
As a dramatic twist late Friday night, it turned out that it was actually Tu Hau-lin (屠豪麟), the personnel section chief of the health department, who allegedly kissed Cheng. The allegations were apparently directed at the wrong man in what the accuser called a case of mistaken identity.
Political observers said that the case highlighted the fact that lawmakers should not get involved in such cases and that they should let the judicial system take care of them.
"Lawmakers are not God. They don't have the right to accuse anyone simply because an accuser says so," said Chin Heng-wei (金恆煒), a political observer and editor in chief of Contemporary magazine.
What they can do, however, is to recommend a good lawyer for the individual and let the judicial system take care of the rest, Chin said.
"It's possible that lawmakers are used by the person filing the complaint because they don't have the judicial right to conduct investigations," Chin said.
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Shen added that it is the duty of the opposition parties to supervise the ruling party and "while the political motives are always there, the key lies in whether the complaint stands the test of judicial investigation," Sheng said.
Obviously, in this case, it didn't.
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