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Ma breached
confidentiality, DPP says
By Tseng Wei-chen and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff
writer
The indictment notice against Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming (黃世銘) showed
that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had intervened and changed how the Huang-led
Special Investigation Division (SID) of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office tackled
the improper lobbying case involving Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平),
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said.
Following the indictment handed down by the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office on
Friday, DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said that Ma, along with Premier Jiang
Yi-huah (江宜樺) and former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Lo
Chih-chiang (羅智強), were all behind what has been described as a political
vendetta against Wang.
The indictment notice said that Huang had briefed Ma on the case, in which DPP
caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) was also involved, and that at that time, Huang
intended to summon all those involved for questioning, Kuan said.
Huang changed his mind and the SID said Wang, Ker and others involved had
violated administrative regulations rather than breaking the law after his
meeting with Ma on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, Kuan said.
Although Ma has immunity from prosecution as head of state, the judiciary should
reserve the right to prosecute him after he is out of office, she said.
The prosecutors’ office said that Huang had clearly intended to continue the
investigation on Aug. 31.
The office also said that Huang’s own statements during the legislative session
— that he had decided not to summon Wang and others for questioning on Sept. 2,
the day after he met Ma for the second time — showed that Huang was lying when
he told the Legislative Yuan that he had ascertained there was evidence only of
administrative breaches when he briefed the president.
DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that Ma’s actions were clearly a breach
of investigative confidentiality, while Jiang and Lo should also be considered
accomplices to the breach.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office was willfully ignoring the fact that Ma
had played a central role in the affair, Chen said, adding that office should
consider prosecuting Ma because he had disclosed sensitive information to Jiang.
Additional reporting by Chang Wen-chuan and Lin Chun-hung
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