Legal experts yesterday filed a lawsuit against the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division (SID) and Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) for allegedly following illegal procedures in their investigation of alleged influence peddling involving Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平).
The SID and Huang have violated the Communication Security and Surveillance Act (通訊保障及監察法), the Personal Information Protection Act (個人資料保護法) and the Civil Servant Service Act (公務人員服務法), Huang Yueh-hung (黃越宏), the publisher of the Journal on the Rule of Law (法治時報), said before filing a lawsuit at the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office yesterday morning.
The SID on Friday accused Wang, former minister of justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) and Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office head prosecutor Chen Shou-huang (陳守煌) of influence peddling for Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), sparking widespread public discussion over politicians’ lobbying and what appeared to be an orchestrated political vendetta.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
SID and Huang violated the law at least nine times, Huang and other lawyers told a press conference yesterday.
Wiretapping Ker in a prove into allegations of embezzlement did not mean the information the SID accidentally obtained during the surveillance could be used in a different case regarding lobbying, nor could the division publish the full text of the raw intelligence in a press release, Huang said.
The division’s referral of Tseng to the Control Yuan violated the Public Functionaries Discipline Act (公務員懲戒法), he said.
Additionally, the division’s request for Wang’s telephone records and its publication of base station locations for Wang’s phone calls violated the Personal Information Protection Act, Huang said.
Since Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming said he reported the case to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on Aug. 31, “it proved that Ma was aware of the SID’s abuse of wiretapping, but has not done anything to stop the practice,” lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said.
The development of the investigation showed that the SID has become hired thugs for politicians to persecute their rivals, he said.
“I think it is time for the Legislative Yuan to think about abolishing the division — after the new [legislative] session begins next week,” Huang Di-ying said.
Wu Ching-chin (吳景欽), an associate professor of law at Aletheia University, agreed with Huang’s recommendation, saying that the SID had pressed charges against many former DPP government officials, but most of the cases were either dropped or the defendants were found not guilty.
“With its poor efficiency and conviction rate, the division has now become only a political tool and should be abolished,” Wu said.
In June, the Taiwan High Court found Ker not guilty of embezzlement in a case stemming from 1997 when he was general manager of Formosa Telecom Investments Co. Wang, Tseng and Chen allegedly sought to have prosecutors not appeal the High Court verdict to the Supreme Court.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
Ferry operators are planning to provide a total of 1,429 journeys between Taiwan proper and its offshore islands to meet increased travel demand during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, the Maritime and Port Bureau said yesterday. The available number of ferry journeys on eight routes from Saturday next week to Feb. 2 is expected to meet a maximum transport capacity of 289,414 passengers, the bureau said in a news release. Meanwhile, a total of 396 journeys on the "small three links," which are direct ferries connecting Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties with China's Fujian Province, are also being planned to accommodate
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
RSS