Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) yesterday said that prosecutors are not obligated to report to lawmakers and answer their questions and urged lawmakers not to "make the same mistake" again.
The Legislature's Judiciary Committee yesterday invited Chen and Kaohsiung District Prosecutors' Office Prosecutor-General Chu Nan (
"Please be advised! The Interpretation Article 325 to the Constitution clearly states that prosecutors stay neutral while they are investigating a case. Interpretation Article 461 also said that prosecutors are not obligated to report to any government offices to answer any government officials' questions," Chen said. "As a result, I told Chu not to come today."
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Chen said that only prosecutor generals or the state public prosecutor general has the authorization to order other prosecutors or ask them to brief a case. Other than this, prosecutors are not responsible to anybody.
"This is clearly stated in the law. Please respect this," he said.
The minister said that he hoped that it would not happen again.
"This is a mistake and I hope that the same mistake will not be repeated," he said.
Chen's remarks at the meeting yesterday morning stunned lawmakers.
PFP Legislator Chou His-wei (
"Please be advised as well that you guys, including prosecutors, belong to the Cabinet. However, Cabinet members are all obligated to report to the Legislative Yuan and answer lawmakers' questions. That is also stated in the Constitution. How dare you? You told us not to make the same mistake again but I also want to tell you to respect the system and respect the Legislative Yuan," Chou said.
"Even though Chu is absent today, our questions for him still exist and we will keep inviting him to join our meetings in the near future," Chou said.
Chen did not respond to Chou's protest as the meeting continued. However, Chou had to dismiss the meeting a few minutes later because there was another quarrel between DPP Legislator Liu Chun-hsiung (
Su was complaining to Chen that Kaohsiung prosecutors had overlooked a suspect in their investigation. He said that he possessed evidence to prove that a particular suspect was guilty and hoped that law enforcement officers would re-investigate it.
While Su was complaining, he implied that the "overlooked suspect" was Liu.
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