A legislative committee yesterday asked prosecutors to speed up probes into the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) four presidential hopefuls' alleged misuse of their allowance funds.
The Organic Laws and Statutes Committee said investigators and prosecutors should increase their inquiry efforts and wrap up the cases in a speedy manner.
Opposition legislators questioned how the DPP presidential aspirants -- Vice President Annette Lu (
Double standards
The lawmakers also criticized prosecutors for adopting double standards in the indictments of former Chinese National Party (KMT) chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
In reply, Public Prosecutor- General Chen Tsung-ming (陳聰明) said he would summon head prosecutors nationwide to discuss the issue, seeking to set clear -- and preferably uniform -- standards.
KMT Legislator Chang Jen-hsiang (
Vice Minister of Justice Lee Chin-yung (
Lee also said that indictments of different people would be different even if uniform standards were applied.
Dinner scandal
The committee also requested yesterday that the Ministry of Justice present within a week details on reports that Chen had dined with the first family's former doctor, Huang Fang-yen (
Lee admitted that Chen's conduct was inappropriate and that he should have exercised more prudence.
However, he urged the public to recognize Chen's sincerity in doing his job and respect the process by which he was elected as the nation's top prosecutor.
While opposition lawmakers have called for Chen's resignation, Lee said that the top prosecutor can only step down when his or her four-year term expires. He or she may be subject to reprimand or dismissal if found guilty of violating the Law on Discipline of Civil Servants (公務人員懲戒法).
Citing a statute regulating the conducts of prosecutors, KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry