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.
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
EVA Airways on Saturday said that it had suspended a pilot and opened an investigation after he allegedly lost his temper and punched the first officer several times as their plane was taxiing before takeoff at Los Angeles International Airport. According to a report published on Thursday by The Reporter, the incident occurred after the flight’s Malaysian first officer tried to warn the Taiwanese pilot, surnamed Wen (文), that he was taxiing faster than the speed limit of 30 knots (55.6kph). After alerting the pilot several times without response, the first officer manually applied the brakes in accordance with standard operating
Japanese Councilor Hei Seki (石平) on Wednesday said that he plans to visit Taiwan, saying that would “prove that Taiwan is an independent country and does not belong to China.” Seki, a member of the Japan Innovation Party, was born in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province and became a naturalized Japanese in 2007. He was elected to the House of Concilors last year. His views on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) — espoused in a series of books on politics and history — prompted Beijing to sanction him, including barring Seki from traveling to China. Seki wrote on X that he intends
RSS