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.
A video allegedly featuring retired general Kao An-kuo (高安國) calling on Taiwanese military officers to surrender to China and overthrow the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has sparked outrage and calls for him to be charged with treason. The video, titled “A message to Taiwanese military officers,” allegedly shows Kao saying: “I call on commanding officers of our military troops to stand up for Chinese nationalism, to take up this duty under heaven’s mandate to save Taiwanese from oppression and terrible suffering.” Dressed in military fatigues and a beret, the lieutenant general called on officers to overthrow the “fraudulent DPP regime,”
HOUNDED ONLINE: Two Chinese firms said they would not extend their contracts with Little S, while another terminated its agreement following an Instagram post A high-profile Taiwanese TV host found herself the latest to draw fire from Chinese Internet users after referring to Taiwan’s Olympians as “national competitors.” Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) — better known as “Little S” — made the comment in an Instagram post on Sunday during the women’s singles badminton final between Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) of Taiwan and Chen Yufei (陳雨菲) of China. The post drew an angry reaction in China, where nationalist Internet users often police the comments of celebrities and companies for views that clash with the Chinese Communist Party’s official narrative that both sides of the Taiwan Strait are part
The military yesterday dispatched four fighter jets to welcome a group of Olympians back to Taiwan to thank the nation’s athletes competing in this year’s record-breaking Tokyo Games. Taiwan this year has posted its best-ever Olympic result with 11 total medals thus far — two golds, four silvers and five bronzes — more than doubling its previous record of five medals in 2000 and 2004. To celebrate the achievement, the Ministry of National Defense said it was instructed by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to dispatch four Mirage 2000 jets to escort the athletes flying home on a China Airlines charter flight. On the
HASTY REVIEW CLAIMS: Medigen’s vaccine, which is to start phase 3 clinical trials later this year, should not have received emergency use authorization, Hau said Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) is to appeal the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) authorization of Medigen Vaccine Biologics’ COVID-19 vaccine, he said yesterday. The administration on July 19 granted Medigen emergency use authorization, even though the drugmaker had not yet completed phase 3 clinical trials. The government should not authorize the use of a vaccine that has not completed phase 3 trials, Hau said in Taipei on the sidelines of an event to distribute boxed meals with former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Broadcasting Corp of China chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康). Hau said the government had politicized
RSS