The case of a former National Communications Commission (NCC) official found to have caused a forest fire last year has been turned over to the Disciplinary Court after he was on Monday impeached for tainting the reputation of the government and public officials.
Eleven Control Yuan members voted unanimously to impeach former NCC senior specialist Joseph Chiao (喬建中) during a review of the case, the Control Yuan said in a statement.
Chiao, who had been suspended since he was indicted in August last year for contravening the Forestry Act (森林法), was then referred to the court that governs disciplinary action against the nation’s civil servants.
Photo courtesy of the Chiayi Forest District Office
The court must determine his punishment after he was found to have lied to police about his role in a fire that started on May 16 last year and burned nearly 80 hectares of forest in Yushan National Park over 12 days, causing damages of more than NT$200 million (US$6.99 million at the current exchange rate).
An investigation report by the Control Yuan said that Chiao lied to police when he claimed the blaze started after he tripped over a gas stove while cooking breakfast.
Based on evidence collected by firefighters and forestry authorities, Chiao and four others were found to have built an illegal campfire on May 15, and Chiao did nothing to stop the others from cutting branches off trees to start the fire at Dujuan Campground on the Batongguan Traversing Trail (八通關越道路).
Chiao’s attempts to mislead investigators seriously damaged the morale of government officials and undermined the government’s reputation, the Control Yuan report said.
Prosecutors in Nantou County said that the group lit a campfire to cook dinner, ignoring warnings on their park entry permits and at the campground that open fires were prohibited.
Chiao woke up at about midnight and discovered that embers from the campfire had caused a small fire, which he tried to put out before moving his tent away from the area and going back to sleep, prosecutors said.
At about 4am, Chiao again woke up to find that the fire was out of control, at which point he woke up his companions and reported the blaze to the Nantou County Fire Department.
On Aug. 25, the Nantou District Prosecutors’ Office indicted the five for stealing forest products and setting a fire that burned down a forest owned by others.
If found guilty, they could face a up to seven years in jail.
The Forestry Bureau has also sought NT$229 million from the five to compensate for the damage they caused.
From June 2019 to June last year, Chiao submitted 12 applications to enter Yushan National Park and served as a guide on 11 occasions, the Control Yuan said.
From July 2016 to July last year, he applied to the National Police Agency to hike in high mountain ranges across Taiwan, an indication that he was an experienced hiker.
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