Minister of Justice Lo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) yesterday said that a task force set up to investigate the wiretapping controversy involving the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) started operations yesterday and that she hoped a conclusion could be reached as soon as possible.
Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) said the task force has retrieved documents from the SID and the Taipei District Court on the wiretapping case. It will also summon officials from the Ministry of Justice’s Investigation Bureau in charge of wiretapping work for interviews, he added.
Vice Minister of Justice Tsai Pi-yu (蔡碧玉), who was named the convener of the task force assembled the previous day, said she and the 10 other members — four justice officials and prosecutors and six legal experts — will discuss how the investigation should be conducted.
Tsai said that the investigation is administrative, rather than criminal, and will look into possible improper conduct by prosecutors.
Asked whether the task force would interview President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Lo said: “We might like to interview President Ma if it is really necessary, but because it is an administrative investigation, not a criminal one, we do not know whether Ma is willing to receive an interview.”
Concerns about the wiretapping conducted by the SID were raised after it was revealed on Sept. 28 that the legislature’s switchboard was monitored earlier this year.
The SID reported a case against former justice minister Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) and High Prosecutors’ Office head prosecutor Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌) to the Control Yuan and a Ministry of Justice review board for prosecutors respectively on Sept. 6 for allegedly issuing an instruction not to appeal a court case against Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
Tseng and Chen allegedly acted after receiving calls from Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), the SID said, citing evidence including telephone records and recordings gathered from eavesdropping on Ker’s telephone conversations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
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