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Politicians indignant
at new wiretap accusations
By Mo Yan-chih, Chris Wang, and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with
staff writer
Legislators across party lines are expressing growing indignation at revelations
of alleged abuse of power by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special
Investigation Division (SID) amid calls for SID Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming
(黃世銘) to resign.
“The SID’s abuse of power and human rights infringement are outrageous.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] cannot
shirk their responsibility and Huang should step down,” Democratic Progressive
Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said in Greater Taichung yesterday.
“Ma has never respected the Constitution or democracy; now the people see him in
his true colors,” Su said.
Former DPP chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said in a press release that
wiretapping the legislature was a “serious business” and officials involved
should be suspended and investigated.
Tsai urged the Legislative Yuan to establish a special committee to probe if Ma
had a role in manipulating the judiciary for political wiretapping.
DPP lawmaker Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the controversy showed the SID should be
abolished, adding that he did not rule out proposing slashing the SID’s budget
in the legislature.
In response to Su’s criticism of Ma, the KMT yesterday urged the DPP to address
the breach of trust case involving DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming’s (柯建銘).
KMT Spokesman Yin Wei (殷瑋) questioned Su and the DPPs’ handling of Ker’s alleged
involvement in the case, calling on the party to stop defending Ker, who has
been lobbying in the legislature over his alleged involvement in the Formosa
Telecom Investment Co (全民電通) scandal, for its political interests.
“DPP Chairman Su likes to talk about democracy and the establishment of a
constitutional government; he should face the fact that Ker is the key in the
lobbying case,” he said.
The DPP should not sidestep the issue by focusing criticism at Ma, Yin said. He
did not comment on DPP accusations that the SID wiretapped a telephone line in
the legislature.
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