The Supreme Court is unlikely to reverse the Taiwan High Court’s guilty verdict against former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said yesterday, while Ma faces other legal battles over the sales of properties owned by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
Ker made the comments during an interview on political commentator Clara Chou’s (周玉蔻) Hit FM radio breakfast show
The Taiwan High Court’s verdict on Tuesday was a landmark ruling with great implications and its importance matches any of the constitutional interpretations made by the Council of Grand Justices, Ker said.
“The court found Ma guilty of leaking of confidential information in a case under judicial investigation. It was a watershed moment for the justice system to bid farewell to an old era,” he added.
The ruling represents the end of the use of “police-state tactics” of secretly monitoring and wiretapping people to suppress dissent, and a move toward the rule of law, he said.
“The court clearly stated that the law must be applied equally, and that from the president down to ordinary people, no one is above the law. Therefore the justice system is working in earnest to investigate criminal actions by the [former] president,” Ker said.
“I believe that Ma is afraid of prosecution in the cases dealing with the sales of KMT properties and assets when Ma was party chairman,” Ker said. “Those cases involve receiving bribes, undue financial benefit, breach of trust and other offenses, which are all major felonies.”
In the High Court ruling, Ma was convicted of leaking classified information obtained from the now-defunct Special Investigation Division’s wiretaps of Ker, then-legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and others in 2013.
He was sentenced to four months in prison, which can be commuted to a fine of NT$120,000. He can appeal the ruling.
In related news, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office released a statement in response to media reports that it breached the principle of independence and impartiality of the judiciary.
Media reports said a few seconds of loud cheering was heard on Tuesday from the chief prosecutor’s office as the High Court’s ruling was announced.
The office said the incident has been blown out of proportion and the reports distorted the facts.
Several prosecutors and staff were meeting at the time, and since Ma’s case is a prominent one and as the High Court verdict overturned the not-guilty ruling in the first trial, it naturally led to some discussion by those attending the meeting, the office said.
“Three seconds of loud cheering” is an exaggeration and distortion, it said.
“We regret that some media outlets published the report without checking the facts, which could lead to discord among different groups,” it added.
An aide to Ma, former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強), yesterday said that the High Court ruling was “outrageous.”
It was made by judges who were out of touch with society, and it dealt a serious blow to the legal framework upon which the government is based, Lo said.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated