The new overseas appointments of two witnesses in a high-profile dollar-diplomacy scandal are routine personnel rotations and have nothing to do with the case, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Prosecutors investigating the case have not expressed any objections to the appointments, which were released before the March 22 presidential poll, the ministry said.
Donald Lee (李傳通), director-general of the ministry’s Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, has been appointed the country’s representative to the Philippines, and Chang Chiang-sheng (張強生), a counselor in the office of former minister of foreign affairs James Huang (黃志芳), has been appointed deputy representative to Malaysia.
The two are expected to assume their new posts by the end of this month.
They have been questioned by prosecutors as witnesses in the scandal in which the government was defrauded of US$30 million in funds intended to help build diplomatic ties with Papua New Guinea.
Challenging the ministry’s appointments, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀) said yesterday it was improper for the ministry to send Lee and Chang Chiang-sheng overseas before judicial authorities had completed their probe into the scandal.
He urged the ministry to reconsider its decision.
The ministry said, however, that after Lee and Chang Chiang-sheng assume their new posts, they could still return to Taiwan to help with the investigation whenever needed.
The ministry said Lee and Chang Chiang-sheng had already reported to prosecutors on their handling of the case and would cooperate if they were asked for additional information.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
EARTHQUAKE: Taipei and New Taipei City accused a construction company of ignoring the Circular MRT’s original design, causing sections to shift by up to 92cm The Taipei and New Taipei City governments yesterday said they would seek NT$1.93 billion (US$58.6 million) in compensation from the company responsible for building the Circular MRT Line, following damage sustained during an earthquake in April last year that had shuttered a section for months. BES Engineering Corp, a listed company under Core Pacific Group, was accused of ignoring the original design when constructing the MRT line, resulting in negative shear strength resistance and causing sections of the rail line between Jhonghe (中和) and Banciao (板橋) districts to shift by up to 92cm during the April 3 earthquake. The pot bearings on
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
RSS