Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) should step down immediately and be detained, especially after he was caught on tape possibly colluding to destroy evidence, the Democratic Progressive Party said yesterday.
DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) on Tuesday released an audio recording at the Legislative Yuan of a telephone conversation in which Huang ordered Special Investigation Division (SID) prosecutors to send him certain documents in preparation for his court appearances.
The telephone call was made during a break in a question-and-answer session at the legislature and was Recorded by the legislature’s video-on-demand system.
“The conversation was proof of Huang colluding [with other prosecutors],” DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) told a press conference.
Huang and two SID prosecutors, Cheng Shen-yuan (鄭深元) and Yang Jung-tsun (楊榮宗), have been listed as defendants in the secret-leaking case, while other prosecutorial members of the division have been listed as witnesses, Chen said.
The case stems from allegations that Huang leaked information to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) about an ongoing investigation into alleged improper lobbying by Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平), which later snowballed into a political scandal following revelations that the SID wiretapped the legislature.
Meeting with SID prosecutors who work under his supervision daily, Huang was able to collude with them and destroy evidence, the lawmaker alleged, adding that was why Huang dared to claim innocence and refused to step down.
“If this is not destruction of evidence and collusion, I don’t know what is,” DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said.
The DPP’s Central Standing Committee (CSC) yesterday passed a resolution demanding Huang’s immediate resignation, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
“As a defendant, Huang is no longer fit to serve as prosecutor-general. Huang would only bring harm to the nation’s judicial system each day he stays in his position,” Lin said.
Citing a briefing given by National Taiwan University law professor Lin Yu-hsiung (林鈺雄) at the weekly CSC meeting, Lin Chun-hsien quoted the professor as saying that the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office’s investigation of the case appeared to have “established a firewall around President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)” and only held Huang accountable for his alleged misconduct.
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