The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office has appealed a court ruling acquitting former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of leaking classified information related to an investigation of an opposition lawmaker while the investigation was ongoing in September 2013.
Prosecutors on Friday filed an appeal against the Aug. 25 ruling by the Taipei District Court, contending that it was made on an erroneous legal foundation, office spokesman Chou Shih-yu (周士榆) said.
By ruling in favor of Ma, the court misconstrued the president’s power to mediate interpersonal disputes and created an ambiguous standard that allows the president to step into “potential disputes between different branches of government,” which would allow the president to intervene in judicial investigations and infringe on people’s basic rights, Chou said.
The ruling has damaged the principle of separation of powers and the protection of people’s basic rights, he said.
If the ruling is accepted, it could lead to administrative power influencing the execution of justice through the manipulation of prosecutorial power, he said.
The case involves then-state prosecutor-general Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) showing Ma a transcript of wiretapped conversations that were part of evidence collected in an ongoing investigation of an alleged breach of trust by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘).
In the taped conversations, then-legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Ker were heard talking about lobbying two senior justice officials, including the minister of justice, to prevent an appeal in a breach of trust case in which Ker had been acquitted.
According to prosecutors, Ma encouraged Huang to leak the recording, Ker’s personal information and other information related to the investigation, to then-premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) as well as then-presidential office deputy secretary-general Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強).
The Taipei District Court on Aug. 25 ruled that Ma was not guilty, saying that there was insufficient evidence to show Ma had instigated the leak and no indication of criminal intent on his part.
The court also cited Article 44 of the Constitution to rule in Ma’s favor, saying that as president he had the power to intervene in disputes between different branches of government.
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