Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office (THPO) Prosecutor Hou Kuan-jen (侯寬仁) yesterday backed a former deputy justice minister’s allegations on Tuesday that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had turned to the nation’s administrative and investigative branches to pursue a personal vendetta against him for indicting the president on corruption charges in 2007.
“It is shocking to know that a president would resort to administrative means to punish the judicial personnel in charge of a legal case involving himself,” Hou said in response to media queries about former deputy minister of justice Lee Chin-yung’s (李進勇) accusations on Tuesday that Ma had interfered with the judicial system.
Lee presented a copy of a newspaper clipping showing an op-ed article written by Ma’s attorney, C.V. Chen (陳長文), in January 2010, calling on the Ministry of the Justice to seek compensation from Hou for what he described as negligence in handling the fraud case.
On the clipping was a note left by Ma that read: “Minister [of Justice] Wang Ching-feng, please read [the article] and clarify the matter.”
Lee alleged that Ma had held a grudge against Hou for indicting him on charges of misappropriating NT$11 million (US$333,000 at current exchange rates) from his special mayoral allowance during his eight-year tenure as Taipei mayor, even after he was found not guilty in April 2008. Hou said Ma took him to court in January 2008 on charges of dereliction of duty and forgery of investigation reports related to his corruption case, but the case was dismissed.
“After I was cleared of criminal liability, the president refused to let go of the matter … and instead used Chen’s article as a pretext for trying to hold me administratively accountable for another case,” Hou said.
As Hou’s alleged malpractice in handling the fraud case had gone beyond the 10-year statute of limitations for public functionary’s administrative negligence, given that defendants in the case were first indicted and detained in 1997, Ma later turned to the Control Yuan for assistance, Hou said.
Contrary to Ma’s expectations, the Control Yuan in December 2010 issued a correction order not to Hou, but to the ministry, for failing to discipline Hou sooner, as suggested by a Control Yuan investigation report in May 2002.
Hou said that then-justice minister Wang Ching-feng (王清峰), apparently acting on Ma’s orders, sent an official letter to the THPO in February 2010 asking the agency to “ascertain Hou’s [administrative] liability in ‘fraudulently misrepresenting’ witnesses’ statements” in Ma’s corruption case.
“It’s evident that the ministry jumped to conclusions before the THPO even had a chance to look into the matter,” Hou added.
Hou said the THPO originally decided not to discipline him.
Nevertheless, the ministry’s personnel review committee decided to mete out a heavier punishment and gave Hou a demerit instead in October that year, he said.
Asked whether the concerted efforts by Ma, Chen and Wang to find fault with him constituted a witch-hunt, Hou said: “It’s up for interpretation.”
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
RSS