The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday passed preliminary review of an amendment to Article 99-1 of the Accounting Act (會計法) amid a scuffle between lawmakers from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party.
The amendment would decriminalize alleged misappropriation of the special affairs fund, which the Presidential Office uses to carry out state business.
Lawmakers said that the amendment could interfere with former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) ongoing trial, in which he is accused of misusing a state affairs fund while in office.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
It would retroactively remove the basis for the criminal charge Chen faces, they added.
When the legislature doors opened yesterday, lawmakers pushed each other as they rushed to the podium.
DPP Legislator Shen Fa-hui (沈發惠), the committee’s convener, called for a vote to push the amendment out of committee after a KMT motion to adjourn the meeting failed.
KMT Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) accused DPP lawmakers of violence and said that they had “rammed through” the controversial amendment.
KMT Legislator Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said that the DPP was abusing its legislative majority.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee Deputy Director Lin Chia-hsing (林家興) said that the special affairs fund case is still before a judge, and the DPP should not intervene by drafting or amending legislation.
DPP caucus convener Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that the fund functions the same as a special allowance fund and should not be decriminalized.
More than 6,700 people have benefitted from legally “misusing” special allowance funds, while the special affairs fund case only has seven defendants, Ker said, adding that the government should not contravene the principle of proportionality.
Ker said that the KMT is “dead set” on imprisoning Chen and called on the KMT to consider right and wrong.
Ker dismissed claims that moving the amendment along was being prioritized, adding that there is no reason for the amendment to be placed on a back burner, he said.
The DPP headquarters accused the KMT of “violent actions” in the legislature.
KMT lawmakers acted undemocratically, it said, adding that close physical encounters put attending legislators at greater risk of being infected with COVID-19.
Additional reporting by Wu Su-wei, Shih Hsiao-kuang and CNA
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) and Chunghwa Telecom yesterday confirmed that an international undersea cable near Keelung Harbor had been cut by a Chinese ship, the Shunxin-39, a freighter registered in Cameroon. Chunghwa Telecom said the cable had its own backup equipment, and the incident would not affect telecommunications within Taiwan. The CGA said it dispatched a ship under its first fleet after receiving word of the incident and located the Shunxin-39 7 nautical miles (13km) north of Yehliu (野柳) at about 4:40pm on Friday. The CGA demanded that the Shunxin-39 return to seas closer to Keelung Harbor for investigation over the
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology (NKUST) yesterday promised it would increase oversight of use of Chinese in course materials, following a social media outcry over instances of simplified Chinese characters being used, including in a final exam. People on Threads wrote that simplified Chinese characters were used on a final exam and in a textbook for a translation course at the university, while the business card of a professor bore the words: “Taiwan Province, China.” Photographs of the exam, the textbook and the business card were posted with the comments. NKUST said that other members of the faculty did not see
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
RSS