A group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday accused the government of interfering with the judicial investigation into Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (
Taiwan High Court Prosecutor-General Hsieh Wen-ting (謝文定) was required to decide whether to indict Ma for the matter before the Dec. 9 elections for the mayors of Taipei and Kaohsiung, KMT Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) told a press conference.
"The investigation into the allegation against President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) state affairs fund has dragged on. Why does Ma have to be indicted within two months?" he asked.
PHOTO: CNA
Chou also criticized Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) for sitting on a document proposed to help prosecutors clear up the "gray area" of the allowance system.
Ma, who was accused of misusing the fund, has defended himself by saying that potential problems with the way that he handled the mayoral special allowance were the result of pitfalls in the way the allowance system was organized.
The case is now being handled by Prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen (
"The document proposed by the officials with the seventh section of the Executive Yuan would help prosecutors understand the systemic problems with the special allowance fund, but Su refused to hand it over to prosecutors," Chou said.
Chou, however, didn't provide evidence for either accusation.
In response, Hsieh said that "It is untrue [that prosecutors were asked to indict Ma by Dec.9.]" "[Chou is] full of crap. Neither I nor the Black Gold Investigation Center has suffered political pressure for the investigation [into Ma's fund]," Hsieh said, urging lawmakers to provide proof of their accusations instead of talking through their hats.
Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (
"I have no idea where the lawmaker's accusation came from. Since it is a legal case, a decision regarding any possible irregularities will be decided by prosecutors. The premier never tries to hold sway over prosecutors," he said.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
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