Lawmakers yesterday approved President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) nomination of Chiang Hui-ming (江惠民), chief prosecutor of Taiwan High Court’s Taichung branch, as the new prosecutor-general.
The confirmation vote was passed 84-1, with two invalid ballots, marking the highest number for a prosecutor-general nominee since the number of legislative seats was cut from 225 to 113 in 2008.
Outgoing Prosecutor-General Yen Da-ho (顏大和), whose term ends on May 7, had 62 votes, while Yen’s predecessor, Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘), received 75 votes.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Before the vote, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said that her caucus considered Chiang’s nomination to be “unbiased” based on its evaluation of Chiang after a question-and-answer session at the legislature on Monday, adding that it would be open-minded going into the vote.
Despite the KMT caucus not imposing any restrictions on its members regarding the vote, only 12 of its 33 legislators voted: Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), Lin Te-fu (林德福), Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), John Wu (吳志揚), Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才), Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), Hsu Chen-wei (徐榛蔚), Hsu Chih-jung (徐志榮), Chen Hsueh-sheng (陳雪生) and Sufin Siluko.
Following the vote, Chiang Hui-ming said he would focus on three key areas: implement proposed judicial reforms to win back the public’s faith in the judiciary; promote human rights and procedural justice, with prosecutors upholding the rights of plaintiffs and defendants; and defend the impartiality and independence of investigations by prosecutors and investigators.
It is difficult to play the role of prosecutor well, as they must achieve a balance between criminal investigations and the protection of human rights, which puts procedural justice at the forefront of their work, he said.
Chiang Hui-ming, 63, is a graduate of National Taiwan University’s law school and has previously served as chief and head prosecutor of several district prosecutors’ offices, including those in Kaohsiung, Taichung, Miaoli and Pingtung, and in branches of the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office.
In his nearly 37-year career in law enforcement, he has worked on judicial reform and has helped the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have Taiwan removed from a list of drug-smuggling countries.
Additional reporting by Cheng Hung-ta and CNA
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