The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will launch an investigation to determine whether the nation’s representative to Switzerland, George Liu (劉寬平), was derelict in his duty when he failed to immediately forward to Taipei a request by Swiss authorities to check the bank accounts of the son and daughter-in-law of former president Chen Shu-bian (陳水扁), a ministry spokesman said.
Liu’s resignation was officially signed off by the Executive Yuan last Saturday. The ministry insisted that the timing of the resignation had nothing to do with the recent scandal, saying the ministry had approved Liu’s resignation in June.
“We will definitely look into the matter to see if Liu committed any administrative error. It might be too harsh to call it a punishment, but if he is found guilty of any wrongdoing, we will take the necessary action in line with the Law on Discipline of Civil Servants (公務人員懲戒法),” ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said.
Critics have blamed Liu for delaying the investigation by holding on to the request for judicial assistance by the Federal Department of Justice and Police of the Swiss Confederation for 10 days before contacting the ministry.
Swiss authorities were alerted by Merrill Lynch Bank (Suisse) earlier this year when the bank suspected former president’s son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) of money laundering.
Early last month, the Federal Department of Justice and Police notified Taiwan’s Swiss representative office to request judicial assistance from Taipei. The letter had been translated into Chinese by the Swiss before handing it to the representative office.
In an interview with the Central News Agency, Liu admitted to full knowledge of the letter’s contents, but vehemently denied that he stalled the process in order to tip off the former president or members of his family.
Liu also said that he did not think it was an urgent request, so instead of informing the ministry immediately, he instructed the office to send the letter back via ordinary mail, which took seven working days.
Liu’s office received the letter early last month. He flew back to Taipei late last month to meet and submit his resignation to Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) on July 29.
“It would be a reasonable deduction to say that Liu never mentioned anything about the Swiss’ request when he was in Taipei last month,” the spokesman said.
Liu will serve two more months before he is officially relieved of his duty. He will be replaced by Hsieh Fa-dah (謝發達), the former deputy of Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS