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.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
RSS