Control Yuan President Wang Chien-shien rejected criticism by prosecutors that a Control Yuan member attempted to intervene in the probe into allegations of money laundering against former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Lee Fu-tien (李復甸) was scheduled to question Special Investigation Panel (SIP) spokesman Chen Yun-nan (陳雲南) yesterday over the SIP’s handling of the investigation into that case and the case involving the former president’s use of his state affairs fund, but the meeting was canceled after prosecutors refused to be questioned.
SIP prosecutors on Tuesday accused Lee of interfering with the judiciary after prosecutors Chu Chao-liang (朱朝亮) and Yueh Fang-ju (越方如) were questioned by Lee on Monday and Tuesday.
When approached by the press for comment, Wang yesterday threw his support behind Lee, saying the Control Yuan did not intend to influence the investigation.
“Instead, [Lee’s intention] was to find out if there was anyone trying to meddle in the investigation. If there isn’t, that’s fine. If there is, the Control Yuan needs to exercise its power,” Wang said.
Wang said prosecutors should know that interfering in a judicial investigation is beyond the Control Yuan’s capacity and that it was normal for prosecutors and Control Yuan members to exchange ideas and cooperate over investigations.
Lee yesterday also denied media reports that claimed he questioned prosecutors on why they had not detained Chen Shui-bian and why they had not questioned his son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚) immediately after they returned to Taiwan.
“I know what I am doing,” Lee said, “The Control Yuan investigates administrative irregularities by public officials, while prosecutors investigate criminal acts.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民) and Chiu Yi (邱毅) yesterday said they supported the Control Yuan interviewing the prosecutors.
Calling the move “normal,” Shuai said the Control Yuan was not interfering, but was merely expressing the hope that the panel would speed up its investigation.
Chiu said the panel’s probe into the money-laundering allegations should be scrutinized by the Control Yuan.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus and Minister of Justice Wang Ching-feng (王清峰), on the other hand, opposed Lee’s questioning.
“Unless the prosecutors are involved in any alleged corruption or human right violations, it would be improper for [Lee] to approach prosecutors to discuss the case,” Wang Ching-feng said. “I talked to Lee on the phone and told him what I thought. And he agreed with me.”
Wang Ching-feng confirmed that Lee had planned to talk with prosecutors because he wanted to learn more details about the alleged money laundering case.
“Since prosecutors have yet to close the case, I told him it would be improper to do so,” she said. “I suggested that he postpone it.”
DPP deputy caucus whip Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) held a press conference yesterday and criticized Lee for his attempts to interfere in the judiciary.
“What Lee did has interrupted the prosecutors’ work and we are sorry to hear that,” she said, urging all Control Yuan members to remain silent on the issue and allow the prosecutors to do their jobs without any interference.
Control Yuan members should investigate government officials to make sure they are not corrupt, but “investigating an ongoing judicial case is not their job,” she said.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but