The Control Yuan has impeached four police officers for their role last year in deleting surveillance footage of a group of men storming Taipei’s Zhonglun Police Station before leaving without being arrested.
Control Yuan members on Tuesday last week voted unanimously to impeach former Songshan Precinct commissioner Lin Chih-cheng (林志誠), former Zhonglun Station chief Hsu Shu-huan (許書桓), Hsu’s then-deputy Yen Min-sen (顏敏森) and sergeant Fu Jung-kuang (傅榮光), it said in a statement on Monday.
In the early hours of April 16 last year, a civilian surnamed Hsu (徐) and nine men chased officer Yang Chung-li (楊忠蒞) into Zhonglun station, damaging a computer during a confrontation with officers before leaving without being arrested.
Yang, a police training instructor with the Songshan Precinct, reportedly had a dispute with Hsu at a nearby restaurant.
Later that day, Fu asked Hsu Shu-huan if surveillance footage of the incident should be deleted so Yang could save face, and he agreed, prosecutors said.
An anonymous Facebook user on April 21 posted about the break-in and subsequent cover-up, questioning why those involved had been dealt with so leniently.
The Songshan Precinct held a news conference the following day, but no video recording was provided.
Lin said that there was no footage available because staff failed to reboot the station’s surveillance cameras after a power outage the night before.
However, the Taipei Police Department’s information technology division recovered the footage, with the video confirming that the men had charged into the station and damaged a computer.
Hsu Shu-huan has since been reprimanded for his actions and removed from his post, while Yang has been transferred to another station.
The Control Yuan said that Yen was in charge of the station on the night of the incident, but knowingly hid the break-in from the precinct and ordered his subordinates to “treat the matter lightly.”
The watchdog body added that Hsu Shu-huan, Fu and Lin had also played a part in attempting to hide the incident.
The Disciplinary Court is to rule on what measures to take against the officers, all of whom, except Lin, are still employed with the Taipei police.
The Control Yuan also censured the Songshan Precinct for its leniency in handling the matter, with the officers involved to be further investigated for “indulging criminals” and “filing a false report” based on new evidence.
Lin lied about the computer, saying it was knocked over in an accident, the Control Yuan said, adding that he initially also said that there was no footage due to a power outage.
Three other police officers who were on duty that night and witnessed the crime also did nothing to intervene, and allowed the intruders to leave, it said.
The Control Yuan said the officers filed a false report claiming the computer had been damaged by a member of the public accidentally knocking it over.
The precinct said it respected the decision, but as the case has yet to be reviewed by the Disciplinary Court, it would continue to enforce its disciplinary measures against the officers.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS