New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) on Saturday said the party has received what appeared to be wiretap transcripts related to former Cabinet spokesman Chen Tsung-yen’s (陳宗彥) alleged involvement in sex and bribery scandals, adding that the whistle-blower is likely from the nation’s legal circles.
Chen Tsung-yen resigned on Friday night after Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Chen Wan-hui (陳琬惠) earlier in the day presented documents allegedly showing that Chen Tsung-yen received the services of sex workers when he was a Tainan City Government official in 2012.
The services were arranged by a close friend of Chen Tsung-yen, Chen Wan-hui said.
Photo courtesy of Chiu Hsien-chih’s office
News media earlier the same day also reported on Chen Tsung-yen’s alleged misconduct.
Chen Wan-hui at a news conference shared the screenshots of chat messages allegedly showing Chen Tsung-yen’s interactions with a hostess club operator named Wang Hsiao-wei (王孝瑋).
Chen Wan-hui also accused the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office of covering up an alleged bribery scandal involving Chen Tsung-yen.
Chen Tsung-yen has denied the accusations, saying he had never been interrogated nor investigated by law enforcement officers over the incidents during his time as a city councilor or city government official in Tainan.
Chiu on Saturday said that the wiretap transcripts and signed documents from the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, which should be viewed by prosecutors and lawyers only, “were leaked to the public in an unprecedented manner.”
“The whistle-blower carefully selected the materials to be disclosed, and deliberately sent different documents to the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT], the TPP and the NPP at different times,” he said.
Chiu said the supposedly classified documents were delivered to the NPP in a brown bag.
“The whistle-blower also attached a note, ‘kindly reminding’ the party that it could contravene the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法) if it reveals the contents of the transcripts to the public. This shows that the whistle-blower is an insider from the legal profession,” he said.
Chiu said he was reluctant to use the transcripts for any purpose, as the leak has crossed the boundary between exposing a scandal and serving as a tool for politicians to “crush their opponents.”
“We do not know how these materials were leaked to the public, but one thing we know for sure is that the justice system has become a tool of political struggle,” he said.
The case shows the need for a whistle-blower protection act, Chiu said.
“We need to define in clear terms who qualifies as a whistle-blower and under what circumstances they can be exempted from the legal consequences of leaking classified information,” he said.
“The act should stipulate protection clauses for whistle-blowers,” he added.
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