President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was involved in leaks of secrets and collusion with Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) in their meetings and telephone calls both before and after the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) accused Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) of improper lobbying, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) and lawyers said yesterday.
In an interview yesterday, Ma said he met with Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and then-Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) on Aug. 31, after being briefed by Huang about Wang’s alleged violations earlier the same day.
The meeting came six days before the SID’s press conference on Sept. 6, at which it accused Wang of improper lobbying.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Ma’s meetings with Huang were criticized as violating the confidentiality of an ongoing investigation and being part of a conspiracy by Ma to remove Wang from his position as legislative speaker.
Lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) filed a complaint against Ma and Huang Shih-ming to the SID on Sept. 9 over the leak, but the SID closed the investigation into Ma on Sept. 27.
Noting Ma’s remarks in the interview that he had talked to Huang Shih-ming by telephone several times after Sept. 6, Chen said the SID’s dismissal of the case against Ma only 18 days after receiving the complaint, and without summoning Ma and Huang Shih-ming for questioning, was “outrageous.”
Ma and Huang Shih-ming had committed obvious collusion with their telephone conversations after Sept. 6 as both were listed as defendants in the case, Chen said.
A president should not talk to a prosecutor-general about a specific case, Chen added.
“If Wang [Jin-pyng] had crossed a judicial red line with his alleged lobbying, to quote Ma, has Ma crossed that red line as well?” Chen asked.
There is another reason that Ma should have never have contacted the prosecutor-general in person — investigations of several cases involving the president were also ongoing, Huang Di-ying said.
Ma is listed as defendant in cases of property crimes of unknown origin, illegal wiretapping, leaks of secrets and cases related to the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) assets and the Dreamers (夢想家) rock musical in 2011, the lawyer said.
“A defendant should not contact a prosecutor at any time,” Huang Di-ying said.
If Ma and Huang Shih-ming had colluded over the telephone, Ma’s agreement to directly confront Huang Shih-ming in court is meaningless, he said, adding that was why Ma should pledge to take a polygraph test to see whether he was aware of the probe before Aug. 31.
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
COUNTERING THE PLA: While the US should reinforce its relations with partners and allies, Taiwan must invest in strengthening its defenses as well, Phillip Davidson said If influence in the Indo-Pacific region is one of the US’ core interests, then Taiwan serves as a cornerstone of US economic and security influence in the region, former US Indo-Pacific Command commander admiral Phillip Davidson said on Thursday. “China’s ... strategy is to supplant the US leadership role in the international order ... and they’ve long said ... that they intend to do that by 2050,” Davidson told the National Review Institute’s Ideas Summit in Washington. Davidson said he had previously told US Senate hearings on China’s military activities and possible threats in the Indo-Pacific region that a Chinese invasion of
RSS