Former Presidential Office spokesman Ting Yun-kung (丁允恭) has been banned from taking a civil service position for two years as punishment for his involvement in a sex scandal, the Disciplinary Court of the Judicial Yuan ruled on Wednesday.
The Control Yuan in January approved Ting’s impeachment and forwarded the case to the Disciplinary Court to determine his punishment.
Ting’s conduct was “debauched” and “imprudent,” and has “seriously marred the reputation of the government and the image of civil servants,” the court said in a statement.
Ting has not held any official position since resigning as spokesman in September last year.
He came under fire after it was reported in September last year that he had sex in his office during work hours with a journalist identified only as “Y” when he was director-general of the Kaohsiung Information Bureau.
The Control Yuan investigated the incident and his impeachment was approved following a unanimous vote on Jan. 15.
Ting had sex with “Y” three times in his office, the ruling said, adding that during their two-year relationship, from 2014 to 2016, “Y” had two abortions.
Control Yuan members said they believed that Ting had sexually harassed “Y” after the two split, as Ting posted on Facebook a photograph of himself and “Y” sitting together in February 2017.
The photograph was the basis of subsequent reports about the affair, but the ruling said the photograph, which shows “Y” with her head on Ting’s shoulder, only implied a potential romantic relationship.
The photograph itself does not prove that Ting had made unwanted sexual advances or discriminated against “Y,” it said, adding that Ting was therefore found guilty of contravening the Civil Servant Work Act (公務員服務法), but not guilty of breaching the Sexual Harassment Prevention Act (性騷擾防治法).
Ting on Facebook issued an apology for conducting inappropriate activities in the workplace and said he accepted the punishment.
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