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Legislators reject
justice ministry¡¦s wiretap request
By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter
Lawmakers across party lines yesterday rejected a request by the Ministry of
Justice that a telephone number used as a switchboard operator in the
legislature be tapped as a test to help it clarify doubts over a case in which
the Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors¡¦ Office is
accused of conducting telephone surveillance on the legislature.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Hsueh-chang (§f¾Ç¼Ì) condemned the
ministry for making the ¡§absurd¡¨ request.
¡§How is it not different from the ministry actually tapping the legislature¡¦s
telephone?¡¨ Lu said.
Lu said that lawmakers of all parties unanimously rejected the request after
they first heard about it at a cross-party negotiation meeting.
The ministry sent a document to the legislature on Monday seeking its
assistance, because the investigation into the wiretapping of telephone number
0972-630-235, one of seven lines used by the legislature as switchboard
operators, is underway.
In response to the allegation made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus
whip Ker Chien-ming (¬_«Ø»Ê) that the SID had monitored all inbound and outbound
telephone calls placed through that switchboard number for four months, the SID
has claimed that it had failed to record any conversations from tapping the line
because it was a telephony cost-saving system.
Ker has questioned the SID¡¦s claim, saying the press release issued by the SID
on Sept. 6 regarding its charge that Ker was involved in improper
influence-peddling to have his legal case dropped has disproved the SID¡¦s
statement.
The transcript of the wiretapped telephone conversations between Ker and his aid
surnamed Hu showed that when Ker answered a telephone call made by Hu on June
26, the telephone number Hu used was 0972-630-235, rather than the legislature¡¦s
official switchboard number ¡X (02) 2358-58 58.
According to the legislature, outgoing calls placed through all the
legislature¡¦s switchboard operators showed the number as (02) 2358-58 58, Ker
said. Therefore, if the SID had not tapped the line 0972-630-235, that number
would not have showed when Hu made a telephone call to him, he added.
DPP Legislator You Mei-nu (¤×¬ü¤k) said yesterday that the ministry should have
demanded an explanation from the SID about the wiretapping instead of asking the
legislature to assist its investigation into the case.
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