Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday filed a petition against a proposed amendment to the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), which seeks to ban those convicted of money laundering from holding office for life.
Chen’s petition — filed in person to the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan — came a week after his son, Chen Chih-chung (陳致中), was convicted of the crime and sentenced to one year in prison.
The amendment’s lifetime ban on running for public office contradicts the Penal Code, which stipulates that no citizen should be deprived of their civic rights for more than 10 years unless “the nature of the offense makes it necessary,” said Chen Shui-bian, who is a former lawyer.
Photo: CNA
Money laundering — a class of crime punished by light prison sentences that can be commuted to fines — does not meet the legal standard for disenfranchisement for life, he said, adding that the proposed amendment is a clear breach of the proportionality principle in the Constitution.
“It is strange that the Executive Yuan wants to propose a bill that imposes the lifetime deprivation of civic rights and that it is passing it through the legislature at haste,” he said.
The bill is an overreach that tries to take deprivation of civic rights out of the hands of judges and substitutes the law with the power of the executive and legislative branches of government, which would allow the government to disqualify political candidates it does not like, he added.
Chen Shui-bian said the Money Laundering Control Act (洗錢防制法) was legislated in 2005 during his presidency as part of a legal initiative to enable cooperation with foreign nations, adding that the law was never intended to be used to prevent people from running for public office.
The purpose of money laundering law is fighting organized crime, international fraud and terrorism, but has nothing to do with elections, he said, citing the US federal money laundering laws as an example.
Chen Shui-bian was released by Taichung Prison on medical parole in 2015 after serving six years for a graft conviction.
The terms of the parole, which Taichung Prison drew up and the former president agreed to, forbid him from taking part in political meetings or rallies, giving speeches, talking about politics or accepting interviews from the media.
When asked if Chen Shui-bian’s petition is a breach of the terms of the parole, Taichung Prison deputy superintendent Huang Sheng-hsiung (黃勝雄) yesterday refused to give a direct answer, saying that “the situation is being studied and will be dealt with according to the law.”
The Presidential Office yesterday said that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) respects the autonomy of the legislature and would not comment on bills lawmakers are already deliberating.
Likewise, Tsai would not make remarks about any specific legal cases, it said.
Meanwhile, Chen Chih-chung yesterday confirmed that his prison sentence is to begin on Thursday next week and that he fully intends to present himself to the authorities.
Additional reporting by Wang Jung-hsiang and Chen Yun
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