The Control Yuan on Friday impeached former army colonel Hsiang Te-en (向德恩) for allegedly accepting bribes from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) following a unanimous vote a day earlier.
The Control Yuan, which is responsible for disciplining civil servants, said in a statement on Friday that Hsiang’s impeachment was confirmed during a meeting on Thursday following a 13-0 vote.
The case, initiated by Control Yuan members Lin Wen-cheng (林文程), Tsai Chung-yi (蔡崇義) and Lai Ting-ming (賴鼎銘), is to be sent to the Disciplinary Court, the statement said.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
The indictment released by the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors’ Office in November last year stated that then-colonel Hsiang was approached by Shao Wei-chiang (邵維強), a former reporter based in Kinmen County. Shao allegedly persuaded Hsiang to work for the Chinese government by “not putting up any resistance” in the event of a cross-strait war.
With Shao’s assistance, Hsiang signed a statement in 2020 declaring that he would work steadfastly in his job (as a Taiwanese military officer) for his home country (the People’s Republic of China) to aid its noble cause of helping the two sides of the Taiwan Strait achieve “peaceful reunion,” the indictment said.
Hsiang was found guilty of accepting monthly bribes of NT$40,000 (US$1,236) starting from 2019 from a CCP-linked organization, totaling NT$560,000, the indictment stated.
Hsiang was handed a prison term of 90 months after being found guilty of corruption during the first trial in February, which he appealed. The High Court’s Kaohsiung Branch upheld the ruling in September.
Shao, also a retired military officer, was tried for bribery and breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), and received a 15-year jail sentence from the Kinmen District Court in May.
In the Control Yuan statement, Lin, Tsai and Lai said that Hsiang was the highest-ranking military officer to be recruited by China in the past few years.
Hsiang betrayed Taiwan for meager profits and has thus desecrated the importance of the military and broken his sworn oath to protect the country, the officials said.
It was their opinion that Hsiang’s case constituted a “serious violation” of Article 138 of the Constitution, Article 5 of the National Defense Act (國防法), Article 58 of the Act of Military Service for Officers and Non-commissioned Officers of the Armed Forces (陸海空軍軍官士官服役條例), Articles 1, 6 and 17 of the Civil Servant Service Act (公務員服務法), Article 4 of the Ethics Guidelines for Civil Servants (公務員廉政倫理規範) and the code of Ethics of Republic of China Military Personnel (國軍人員廉政倫理須知), the officials said.
Hsiang’s case is a “serious violation” of Article 2-1 of the Act on Discipline of Civil Servants (公務員懲戒法), which serves as the legal basis for any disciplinary measures, they said.
Under the Act, Hsiang could be stripped off his pension or have it reduced, or be ordered to pay a fine if the Disciplinary Court accepts the Control Yuan’s impeachment as proof of guilt.
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