The Control Yuan voted yesterday to impeach former vice minister of economic affairs (MOEA) Hou Ho-hsiung (侯和雄) for influence peddling, leaking business intelligence and lining the pockets of businessmen during his term in office.
The watchdog body, which is responsible for investigating corruption in government, voted 10-2 to impeach Hou.
In the same case, the Control Yuan voted 7-5 to impeach Chang Yi-min (張義敏), a bureau chief with the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Water Resources Agency, and Yang Shui-yuan (楊水源), a consultant with Taiwan Water Corp.
Hou, Chang and Yang allegedly collaborated to help businessmen win open bids for several infrastructure construction projects so that they could gain illegal profits, said the impeachment motion, which was proposed by Control Yuan members Yu Teng-fang (余騰芳) and Ger Yeong-kuang (葛永光).
Because Hou retired last month, the impeachment decision will not have any direct consequences for him, but it can serve as a warning to incumbent officials dealing with water conservation and related projects, the Control Yuan said.
The impeachment decisions will be referred to the Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Public Functionaries for further investigation because Chang and Yang are still working at their posts, the Control Yuan said.
Meanwhile, the Control Yuan members expressed the hope that the Law on Discipline of Public Functionaries would be amended to allow for fines to be imposed on civil servants after retirement once they are found to have been involved in corruption.
Noting that Hou had already retired on June 22 this year, Yu and Ker said it was unfair that civil servants could go into retirement as a way to escape impeachment for breaking the law.
The practice has led to a high level of consensus among Control Yuan members that the Act on Discipline of Civil Servants (公務員懲戒法) should be amended and a “penalty clause” added so that civil servants will not be able to escape responsibility.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS