Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was summoned for questioning by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday on charges of breaching confidentiality laws.
Former premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and former prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) were also summoned as witnesses against Ma in the lawsuit filed by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
The office said it was not precluding having the three questioned together to check their statements.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The charges against Ma stem from a high-profile case in September 2013, when Huang leaked confidential information to Ma regarding a then-ongoing investigation into allegations that Ker and then-legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) were involved in improper use of influence.
Huang broke confidentiality laws by bringing the investigation to Ma’s attention, and did so again when he informed Jiang of the investigation.
The now-defunct Special Investigation Division had been wiretapping Ker in response to allegations that he was involved in a Judicial Yuan mass bribery case when they overheard Ker calling Wang about the judge’s decision in a previous case Ker was involved in.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎), Ker’s lawyer, said that based on the Taiwan High Court’s ruling on Huang Shih-ming’s case in February last year, three of Ma’s actions could be deemed criminal.
He said that Ma breached the law on confidentiality when he shared information revealed to him by Huang Shih-ming during the investigation with Jiang and then-Presidential Office spokesman Luo Chih-chiang (羅智強) on Aug. 31, 2013.
Ma is suspected of soliciting Huang Shih-ming to break confidentiality when he invited the former prosecutor-general to the presidential residence on Sept. 1, 2013, to report on the ongoing investigation, the lawyer said.
Ma is suspected of a second count of soliciting a breach in confidentiality of information on Sept. 4, 2013, when he asked Huang Shih-ming to brief Jiang on the investigation.
Ma is only now being summoned to speak to investigators about the case as he held prosecutorial immunity as then-president of the nation.
The Taiwan High Court sentenced Huang to one year and three months in prison in February last year for breach of confidentiality, which can be commuted into a fine of NT$457,000.
Additional reporting by CNA
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify