The Taiwan High Court was yesterday rebuffed by the legislature over a request to view legislative footage the court says it needs for an investigation into an alleged bribery case involving eight former lawmakers across party lines.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said the Taiwan High Court should review the Gazette for information rather than asking the legislature to provide footage.
“Official records of all proceedings are in the Gazette,” he said.
The high court recently sent a letter to the legislature, in which it asked the lawmakers to provide it with legislative footage of two meetings held in 1997 at which the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法) was deliberated.
The legislature’s rules for the lending of video footage and audio recordings of proceedings is that the materials cannot leave the legislature without legislative consent, which in turn warrants a review of the request.
At yesterday’s legislative session, lawmakers deferred a discussion of the request to a later date, based on a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) proposal, which it said was in accordance with established practice.
This was the first time a legislative session dealt with such a request because the legislature’s Procedural Committee has never previously placed similar requests on the agenda.
“This occurred because any decision needs to take into account how granting the request might affect the autonomy of the legislature” Wang said, adding that he would hold a meeting of all parties involved to discuss the matter.
In 2010, the Taiwan High Court found the eight former lawmakers guilty of accepting bribes from the National Chinese Herbal Apothecary Association in 1998, in return for their endorsement of an amendment to Article 103 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法) that would restore the right of herbalists to issue medical prescriptions.
The lawmakers involved were former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Hsu Shu-po (許舒博), Liao Fu-peng (廖福本) and Cheng Horng-chi (陳鴻基), former DPP legislators Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅), Chiu Chui-chen (邱垂貞), Jao Yung-ching (趙永清) and Lin Kuang-hua (林光華), as well as former People First Party legislator Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國). They were sentenced to prison terms of between seven to 10 years.
The case remains on the docket because the Supreme Court overturned the high court’s ruling and ordered that the case be retried.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS