The right to re-establish a special investigative division (SID) belongs to the judiciary, Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) said yesterday, after Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi proposed setting up an “opposition party SID” to investigate government officials.
Prosecutors’ offices already exercise the powers of investigation and prosecution, Cheng said when asked by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) whether such a division is necessary or constitutional during a meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
The SID was established under the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in 2007 and abolished in 2017.
Photo: Chen Tsai-ling, Taipei Times
It was granted special powers to investigate corruption and financial misconduct by the president, vice president, the heads of the five branches of government, ministerial-level officials and generals.
The division’s wiretapping and other controversies led to political turmoil in 2013 involving then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), then-legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and other prominent figures.
Lawmakers amended the Court Organization Act (法院組織法) to abolish the SID on Jan. 1, 2017.
The Ministry of Justice listed five major reasons to terminate the SID, including that its functions can be performed by existing prosecutors’ offices, Wu said.
“We therefore must not revive this agency, as it would interfere in the proper functioning of the legislature and other government branches,” she said.
Fu told reporters the party would not set up an SID with state funding, nor let the judiciary be in charge.
“It is up to opposition parties to take in ideas from all sides and join together to investigate all the major scandals over the past eight years,” Fu said.
Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Wednesday said that his party does not support the idea.
“Since campaigning last year, our party had opposed the SID. The nation’s laws must have consistency, fairness and equal application, so we should not have another special unit to investigate top government officials,” Ko said.
DPP Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) said the push to revive the SID is Fu’s way of avenging what he perceives as unfair targeting by the justice system on his cases of financial misconduct and other crimes in past two decades.
Fu went to prison twice in 2018 and 2020 for insider trading, stock manipulation and document forgery for a fraudulent divorce from his wife to enable her to serve as Hualien County commissioner after Fu was convicted and had to serve time in prison.
DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) said re-establishing the SID would seriously harm judicial independence.
“For the SID to be revived under KMT control, it would be under the party’s political manipulation, and impossible to act with objectivity, fairness and equality toward all citizens,” Chen said.
“Legislators must not abuse their power to interfere in the proper functioning of the justice system,” he said.
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