Amid the current political firestorm embroiling some of the country’s top political figures, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) stalwarts have spoken out against the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) for its alleged illegal wiretapping of the legislature.
Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) apologized on Sept. 28 for what he called a “mix-up” by the SID.
He said the unit had mistakenly wiretapped a telephone number at the legislature earlier this year, thinking it was assigned to a cellphone used by an aide to Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
The SID, based on information it said was from a wiretap of Ker’s telephone, said on Sept. 6 that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) was involved in improper lobbying of then-justice minister Tseng Yung-fu and the head of the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office, Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌), to dissuade a prosecutor from appealing a breach of trust case involving Ker that she was handling.
New Taipei City (新北市) Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫) on Tuesday demanded a judicial probe to find out who was responsible for the wiretapping.
“The political row has happened. It is to the misfortune of our nation, and of our people. Now do the right thing by the public; managing the economy is the most important thing,” Chu said on Tuesday.
“People are going through tough times, but they see all these controversial political issues and they just shake their heads. They are asking the political parties and leaders to demonstrate wisdom [on handling the political row],” he added.
When asked whether Huang should resign over his role in the affair, Chu said that a thorough judicial probe must be conducted.
“Because this must not be allowed to happen in democratic nations, which includes Taiwan. Those who are responsible must bear their responsibility,” he said.
Separately, Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚), questioned by county councilors on the matter, said: “Illegal wiretapping is much more serious than bribery and corruption. It is the biggest crisis in a democratic society.”
“Wiretapping of the legislature absolutely cannot be tolerated. A judicial probe must be carried out and report its results to the public, who are the real masters whom the government serves,” he added.
Meanwhile, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), in response to media queries, said the SID has made a number of mistakes on wiretapping, and this has harmed the SID’s credibility and diminished the public’s confidence in the judiciary.
Additional reporting by Hsieh Wu-hsiung and CNA
SMALL RESPITE: The past few rainy days, which came after one month of virtually no rain on the west coast, did not ease Taiwan’s water shortage problems, the CWB said A weather system from southern China has over the past three days replenished Taiwan’s reservoirs with almost 16 million tonnes of water, giving Taiwan a slight relief from a water shortage, the Water Resources Agency (WRA) said yesterday. From 12am on Tuesday to 4pm yesterday, about 15.97 million tonnes fell in the catchment areas of the nation’s reservoirs, which is slightly more than Taiwan’s average daily water use, it said. However, the rain would ease today, with only isolated showers forecast in Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as in southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) said. For other regions, cloudy to
A debt dispute between a restaurant owner and a criminal ring might be behind a bizarre cockroach attack at the Taipei eatery on Monday night while it was hosting a police gathering, Taipei Police Commissioner Chen Jia-chang (陳嘉昌) said yesterday. Preliminary findings of a police investigation into the case at the G House Taipei suggest that the unusual incident might have been directed at the restaurant’s owner, who allegedly owes money to the Bamboo Union, Chen said. The suspects were Bamboo Union members and there was no evidence indicating that the cockroaches were targeted at the police officers at the restaurant, he
Taiwan’s armed forces should closely monitor China’s development of a new tanker aircraft, as it would significantly boost the Chinese air force’s capability to carry out long-range raids, a military expert said on Wednesday. Ou Si-fu (歐錫富), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said in an online article that China is developing a tanker variant of its Y-20 military transport aircraft, known as the Y-20U. The Y-20 has a maximum take-off weight of 220 tonnes and the tanker variant is expected to carry up to 60 tonnes of fuel, more than three times the maximum
TRAVELING WHILE CONTAGIOUS: The highest risk of infection is indoors, especially in settings where people take off their masks to eat and drink, an expert warned The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday posted a list of places visited by people who were recently diagnosed with COVID-19 while they were likely contagious, urging people who visited the sites at the same time to practice self-health management. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that confirmed case No. 1,129 — a woman in her 60s who works at Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, a designated quarantine facility, and tested positive on Friday — visited Chiayi between Friday last week and Monday. On the first day of her trip, she visited the Big Chiayi
RSS