The Ministry of Finance and its subordinate, the Directorate General of Customs, both received a brace of official censures yesterday as the Control Yuan dished out six in one day.
The finance ministry was found at fault for failing to effectively repossess illegally-occupied state-owned land as well as its failure to properly allocate gauze masks during the SARS outbreak earlier this year.
Customs officials were also censured for their role in the mask mix-up that led to a shortage of protective equipment for medical workers on the front line of the fight against the contagion.
The second censure handed down to the Directorate General of Customs was linked to a Control Yuan investigation into the illegal export of stolen cars.
"The finance ministry was censured since it failed to oversee the allocation and management of gauze masks conducted by the Directorate General of Customs during the last SARS outbreak," the censure, proposed by Control Yuan members Hsieh Ching-huei (謝慶輝), Huang Wu-tzu (黃武次) and Lin Chu-liang (林鉅鋃), stated.
Hsieh and his colleagues found that customs officials delayed the delivery of up to 20 million masks to hospitals in April and May.
"The Directorate General of Customs' failure to make a timely response to the market deserves a review of its procedures and that of its superior," the censure stated.
The Control Yuan's investigation into the finance ministry's seizure of state-owned government residences, initiated by Lin Chiang-tsai (
"The finance ministry failed to perform its role of coordinating subordinates and other government agencies to execute the retrieval plan. The failure produced limited results and the occupancy problem remains serious," the censure stated.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
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DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and