An amendment to the Legislators’ Conduct Act (立法委員行為法) to impose more severe punishment on legislators who commit serious crimes was initiated by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers.
The current Legislators’ Conduct Act requires final verdict and could be appealed through the three court circuits, DPP Legislator Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) said, adding that if convicted, lawmakers could be given prison sentences and deprived of their rights and duties.
It is very different from the Local Government Act (地方制度法), which states that a mayor or county commissioner would be suspended from office upon conviction in the first ruling by a district court, Lee said.
Photo: Taipei Times
“By contrast, legislators found guilty of corruption or other serious crimes can still file for an appeal and would not be suspended from office even if they are convicted in the first and second rulings,” he said.
“We see legislators who have been found guilty of serious crimes stay on the job; in the legislature, they could challenge or castigate officials of Judicial Yuan and Ministry of Justice... Most of the public find it very hard to accept such a situation,” Lee said.
Lee said he proposed to amend Article 7, Item 1 of the Legislators’ Conduct Act to stipulate suspending a legislator from office when they are convicted of corruption, engaging in organized crime, colluding with a foreign state or sedition.
When convicted in the first ruling, they would be given prison sentences, Lee said, adding that “misuse of public power for private profit” would require a conviction in a second ruling.
Those would also apply to convictions of serious crimes that impose the death penalty, life in prison, or those with at least a five-year sentence, he said.
If a legislator is found guilty in the first ruling, they would be suspended from office and would be placed in judicial detention or on the wanted bulletin depending on the proceedings of the criminal prosecution, he said.
A Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator who declined to be named opposed the proposed amendment, saying that the DPP has ignored the principle of “presumption of innocence.”
The reason that Taiwan would still need to have the three-circuit court system is to prevent wrongful convictions, the KMT lawmaker said.
“The proposed amendment aimed to focus on rooting out the evils of corruption by officials, but actually it showed the ambition of the DPP to undermine the justice system,” the KMT lawmaker said, adding that the judiciary was working to prosecute opposition parties, but gave lenient treatment when prosecuting members of the ruling DPP.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS