The Control Yuan yesterday impeached five former officials from former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) Presidential Office staff for their handling of his alleged misuse of the state affairs fund.
Chen and his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), were sentenced to life imprisonment in September after being found guilty of corruption and embezzlement.
Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien (王建煊) said that things would not have happened the way they did if the five officials had stuck to their duties of advising the former president on how to use the discretionary fund and tightly regulating the practice of seeking reimbursement on expenses.
The five are former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成), former Presidential Office director Lin Teh-hsun (林德訓), the former first family’s bookkeeper Chen Chen-hui (陳鎮慧), former director-general of the Presidential Office accounting department Fon Shui-lin (馮瑞麟) and former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰).
Admitting to using false receipts to claim money from the special fund, Chen Shui-bian insisted the money was spent on “secret diplomatic missions” — not for personal expenses.
“As important members of the presidential staff, what they did in helping the former first couple pocket public funds was tantamount to helping the wicked perpetrate wicked deeds,” Wang said.
Ma and Lin have been found guilty by the Taipei District Court of helping the former first couple embezzle money from public funds and were sentenced to 20 years and 16 years in prison respectively, and stripped of their civil rights for 10 years and eight years respectively.
Chen Chen-hui, who testified as a witness for the prosecution in the first trial, admitted guilt to charges including forgery, perjury, embezzlement and money laundering.
“Chen Shui-bian and Wu Shu-jen were not able to disrupt the system alone. It was because there was a group of civil servants who allowed themselves to be sidetracked by their superiors to disregard their responsibilities to the country and the government,” Wang said.
Control Yuan member Ma Hsiu-ru (馬秀如) said she hoped the impeachment would help restore discipline among civil servants working in the government’s accounting system.
“Since public funds are the hard-won possessions of the people, civil servants should realize that they are accountable to the public, not just to their boss,” she said.
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS