JRF Statement on Request for Prosecutor Evaluation Regarding Lobbying and Abuse of Power in Wiretapping Case

In response to the Special Investigation Division's recent allegations that Ch'en Shou-huang, Chief Prosecutor of the Taiwan High Prosecutors Office, was involved in lobbying, that Prosecutor Lin Hsiu-t'ao accepted lobbying, and that Prosecutor-General Huang Shih-ming and the Special Investigation Division prosecutors involved acted unlawfully and abused their power, the Foundation formally submitted a request for evaluation to the Prosecutor Evaluation Commission today (the 27th) and issued the following statement:

1. Both Lin Hsiu-t'ao and Ch'en Shou-huang are prosecutors. If the testimony of Prosecutor Lin released by the Special Investigation Division is correct, Chief Prosecutor Ch'en's instruction not to appeal given one or two days before receiving the judgment clearly was not based on legal judgments derived from examining case files and evidence. This exceeded the scope permitted by the principle of "unity of the prosecutorial body" under Articles 92 and 93 of the Judges Act, violated case-handling procedures and official duty regulations, and necessitates an evaluation request.
2. Huang Shih-ming and the Special Investigation Division prosecutors involved conducted wiretapping suspected of being unlawful, and violated the principle of wiretapping for serious crimes as well as the principle of proportionality. Their "administrative investigation" exceeded the authority under Article 94, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2 of the Judges Act. Publicly disclosing wiretap transcripts and leaking them to the President during the investigation also constituted unlawful acts, violated the principle of non-disclosure of investigations, violated case-handling procedures and official duty regulations, and necessitates an evaluation request.