Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) has been cleared of allegations of influence peddling, the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office announced yesterday, after its investigative unit last month concluded that there was no evidence backing claims that Wang spoke with retired judge Yang Ping-chen (楊炳禎) to request that he influence an embezzlement case involving Formosa Telecom Investment Co (全民電通).
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) was general manager of the telecom within the alleged period of misconduct.
Ker was accused of having used his position to make NT$200 million (US$66,540) through insider trading and the misuse of company funds to buy shares.
He was sentenced to six months in jail for violating the Business Accounting Act (商業會計法) in 1997. The ruling was appealed twice and a retrial at the Taiwan High Court ultimately found Ker not guilty.
The DPP whip was alleged to have discussed with Wang trying to influence the judge handling the case with a NT$3 million bribe.
However, the unit found no evidence to support the allegations, and no link between Ker and Wang.
The initial investigation into Wang and Ker was handled by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigative Unit, which used wiretaps to monitor the DPP whip’s communications. The division handed over its probe into Wang to the Taipei unit.
Critics say the wiretapping of Ker was part of a political feud between Wang and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) that erupted in the influence peddling allegations in September last year.
Ma attempted to revoke Wang’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) membership and remove him as legislative speaker.
DPP spokesperson Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said Wang being cleared by the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office proved that Ma had used wiretaps for political retribution, and that with the cooperation of then-prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘), the president subverted the judicial process and violated the Constitution.
“Ma has been doing these things to subvert our Constitution. This case is a big international scandal that has severely damaged Taiwan’s democracy,” Huang Di-ying said.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
QUICK LOOK: The amendments include stricter recall requirements and Constitutional Court procedures, as well as a big increase in local governments’ budgets Portions of controversial amendments to tighten requirements for recalling officials and Constitutional Court procedures were passed by opposition lawmakers yesterday following clashes between lawmakers in the morning, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members tried to block Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators from entering the chamber. Parts of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法) and Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed the third reading yesterday. The legislature was still voting on various amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) as of press time last night, after the session was extended to midnight. Amendments to Article 4
RSS