The Control Yuan yesterday voted 6-4 to impeach former Council of Agriculture (COA) chairman Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) for illegally constructing a luxury farmhouse on agricultural land without engaging in any agriculture.
“Su used his administrative privileges during his terms as Pingtung County commissioner, minister of the interior and COA chairman to build a farmhouse on an agricultural land as a mansion for his own use. None of the equipment or the remaining land were found to be used for agriculture, which constitutes a violation of the Agricultural Development Act (農業發展條例),” the Control Yuan told a press conference following a meeting to discuss the case.
Su, the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) candidate for vice president in the January presidential election, was embroiled in controversy in the run-up to the election for building the farmhouse on agricultural land in Pingtung County for residential use.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
To end months of controversy, Su donated his farmhouse and the farmland to the county’s Changchih (長治) Township Office in October last year and moved his family away from the property.
According to the impeachment statement, in addition to the agricultural land, other farming and grazing land registered under Su’s name was used for Su’s ancestral graves, while the farmhouse itself occupied some township-owned land “with an alleged intention of long-term occupation of state property” and was therefore deemed to violate the Non-urban Land Use Control Regulations (非都市土地使用管制規則).
“As a long-time public servant, Su should have abided by the regulations and set a good example, but instead, he was involved in two cases of illegal land use, used his privileges for personal gain and deliberately broke the laws,” the statement said.
“In light of Su’s aforementioned wrongdoings and his later refusal to undergo Control Yuan questioning, which constituted a breach of the Civil Servants Work Act (公務員服務法), the Control Yuan voted in favor of impeachment and referred Su to the Judicial Yuan’s Commission on the Disciplinary Sanctions of Functionaries for deliberation,” it said.
DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said the decision showed the “decadence” of the Control Yuan and “exactly why” it had lost people’s trust and confidence.
Su’s case and the Yu Chang Biologics Co (宇昌生技股份有限公司) case involving former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) were both “obvious mud-slinging campaign tactics and political maneuvers” during the presidential campaign, he said.
“While the courts ruled that Su and Tsai were innocent, the Control Yuan still won’t let go and appears determined to pursue the cases to the very end,” Lin said.
“The DPP cannot accept the decision, plain and simple,” Lin said.
At a press conference at Tsai’s foundation, where he now serves as a board member, Su said the decision was a political maneuver “even after the presidential election.”
“Is it necessary for the Control Yuan to come up with the politically motivated impeachment more than six months after the presidential election?” Su asked.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
RSS