Since the beginning of the new legislative session in May, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) legislators have been pushing through legal amendments to expand legislative power, such as granting the Legislative Yuan investigative powers.
The KMT and TPP legislators say that there are issues that need to be addressed in a number of cases, such as the nation’s vaccine procurement during the COVID-19 pandemic and possible misconduct in the government’s handling of egg imports to make up for a domestic shortage. They say that they would need to set up investigative reviews to clarify said issues.
The nation’s constitutional system includes a Judicial Yuan and a Control Yuan, both of which have the power to investigate misconduct. The judicial branch has prosecutors’ offices and an Investigation Bureau. The control branch also has an investigation unit with investigators.
It is quite apparent that if the Legislative Yuan is empowered to investigate misconduct, there would need to be a reorganization of the legislative branch. However, giving the Legislative Yuan investigative powers would entail duplication of powers within the constitutional system.
Criminal investigation is a specialist field: Judicial officers at all levels must be professionally trained and licensed. Legislators who think they can do that job without proper training have an inflated sense of their own egos. It is everyone’s responsibility to report criminal cases. While it is commendable for legislators to try to rectify discipline of officials to clean up Taiwanese politics, it is not advisable to exceed their own duties.
If there is reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed, legislators can question officials and access relevant information about the suspected case, but their legislative power and functions should stop there. If they feel that a crime has indeed been committed, they can refer it to judicial authorities for further investigation, instead of continuing the investigation themselves.
In addition, the legislature should not be allowed to conduct investigations into ongoing cases already being handled by judicial authorities; otherwise, it could be overstepping its powers, as well as potentially interfering with the judiciary.
Take for example the case of Ultra Source Ltd, a small trading firm that won a huge government contract early last year to import eggs to fill a local shortage. Lawmakers can inquire about the progress of the prosecutors’ investigation, but they cannot set up a so-called “investigation team” to ask questions about the content of the investigation.
Chen Wen-ching works in environmental services.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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