Hsieh Wen-ding (
Hsieh said he would immediately check into Chen's family members' recent accusations that investigators "abused procedure" while conducting their investigations, even though there was no new evidence about the shooting incident.
"Procedural justice outweighs everything," Hsieh said at a committee meeting at the legislature to review his qualifications to become the nation's top prosecutor.
Hsieh made the remarks while answering questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Kao Su-po (高思博). Kao asked Hsieh to promise to secure procedural justice during prosecutors' investigations.
Kao's concern comes in the wake of the retraction of testimony by the family of the man suspected of shooting the president and vice president on the eve of the 2004 presidential election.
The family now says that police had coerced them into making false statements.
Answering a question from KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅), Hsieh said he had told Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮), head of the Tainan prosecutors' office which was handling the case, to consider appointing credible prosecutors to investigate the complaints of "abused procedure."
Hsieh is the first state public prosecutor-general whose appointment has required legislative approval, in accordance with amendments made to the Organic Law of Court Organization (法院組織法) on Jan. 13.
Another amendment to the law was the establishment of a "Special Investigation Team," an organ under the Ministry of Justice charged with investigating malfeasance by high-ranking officials.
The high-ranking officials include the president, vice president, the heads of the government's five branches, ministers or chairmen of the government departments and military officials who are ranked above general.
Some pan-blue camp legislators who support Lee Tsu-chun (李子春), a prosecutor at the Hualien District Prosecutors' Office, suggested they would approve Hsieh if he agreed to appoint Lee as a member of the "Special Investigation Team."
Lee became well-known after he summoned President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to testify in a vote-buying case in August 2003.
The US House of Representatives yesterday passed the PROTECT Taiwan Act, which stipulates that Washington would exclude China from participating in major global financial organizations if its actions directly threaten Taiwan’s security. The bill, proposed by Republican US Representative Frank Lucas, passed with 395 votes in favor and two against. It stipulates that if China’s actions pose any threat to Taiwan’s security, economic or social systems, the US would, “to the maximum extent practicable,” exclude China from international financial institutions, including the G20, the Bank for International Settlements and the Financial Stability Board. The bill makes it clear that China
Garbage and recycling schedules are to vary from Saturday through Sunday next week over the Lunar New Year holiday period. The following collection information is from the governments of the six special municipalities. Taipei Regular service: Sunday to Monday next week. No service: Tuesday to Thursday next week. Extra service: Friday next week. Regular service resumes: Saturday next week. New Taipei City Extra service: Sunday. Adjusted collection time: Monday next week — garbage collection is to begin in the morning and end at 6pm. No service: Tuesday to Thursday next week. Regular service resumes: Friday next week. Note: Garbage can be dropped off at 70
Taiwan’s Li Yu-hsiang performs in the men’s singles figure skating short program at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, on Tuesday. Li finished 24th with a score of 72.41 to advance to Saturday’s free skate portion of the event. He is the first Taiwanese to qualify for the free skate of men’s singles figure skating at the Olympics since David Liu in 1992.
A KFC branch in Kaohsiung may be fined between NT$60,000 and NT$200 million (US$1,907 and US$6.37 million), after a customer yesterday found an entire AAA battery inside an egg tart, the Kaohsiung Department of Health said today. The customer was about to microwave a box of egg tarts they had bought at the fast-food restaurant’s Nanzih (楠梓) branch when they checked the bottom and saw a dark shadow inside one of them, they said in a Threads post. The customer filmed themself taking the egg tart apart to reveal an entire AAA battery inside, which apparently showed signs of damage. Surveillance footage showed
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