Legislative committees today voted to unfreeze the budgets for the Judicial Yuan and National Security Council (NSC), and mostly unfreeze the Ministry of Environment budget.
The proposals would now be submitted to a plenary session for approval.
The Judiciary and Organic Laws Committee voted to unfreeze NT$246.47 million (US$6.67 million) total across 10 cases from the Judicial Yuan’s budget.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
During the committee meeting, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇) accused judicial officials of promoting prosecutors who handled political cases “correctly.”
Wang cited the example of prosecutor Lin Chun-yen (林俊言), who was nominated for a promotion after investigating former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) for corruption.
Deputy Minister of Justice Huang Shih-chieh (黃世杰) said that Wang’s statement was not fair, as the judiciary has an independent process for promotions.
Promotions are not decided by administrative officials alone, as a review committee as well as fellow prosecutors vote on promotions, Huang said.
Separately, the committee also reviewed the NSC’s budget today.
No legislators from the KMT or Taiwan People’s Party were present, and no Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers objected, leading to convener Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) announcing that it was approved for disbursement and to be submitted to a plenary session.
On Wednesday last week, the committee reviewed frozen funds for the NSC and the Presidential Office, although the funds remained frozen after some opposition lawmakers expressed disappointment that the council’s secretary-general was absent from the meeting.
The total frozen amount reviewed today was NT$16 million across three items: a 30 percent budget freeze on operating expenses, a NT$2 million freeze on research and consulting services and a NT$1 million freeze on research and consulting operating expenses.
Meanwhile, the Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee looked at the Ministry of Environment’s frozen funds, voting to unfreeze nearly all the frozen budget after four hours of questioning and receiving a written report.
However, as the ministry has yet to submit amended regulations on cement emissions standards, NT$5 million remains frozen.
The ministry’s budget was previously cut by NT$278 million, with NT$822 million frozen.
Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) told lawmakers that the ministry would release a draft amendment for cement industry air pollution standards by the end of the month or early next month.
Additional reporting by Yang Yuan-ting
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