Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

An alleged corruption scandal involving an affordable housing development project in Taoyuan County’s Bade City (八德) was exposed last month. It is regrettable that, despite various mechanisms designed to prevent corruption and the imposition of heavy penalties for bribery, these scandals involving government officials keep occurring. What is wrong with the nation’s bribery prevention policy?

Take the current scandal involving former Taoyuan County deputy commissioner Yeh Shih-wen (葉世文), for example. He is under detention and might have violated Article 4 of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), which prohibits “demanding, taking or promising to take bribes or other unlawful profits by the acts that violate the official duties,” and “taking kickbacks from public works or procurements” under one’s charge as well as “acquiring valuables or property through the use of undue influence, blackmail.”

Taiwan March representatives Chen Wei-ting, left, and Lin Fei-fan, right, speak at a press conference in the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday organized to protest at what they called the government’s excessive reliance on lawsuits and invasion of people’s medical records as it investigates the occupation of the legislature.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

Lawyers, student leaders and a legislator yesterday accused law-enforcement agencies, including prosecutors and the police, of abusing their powers and intimidation for summoning and questioning hundreds of Sunflower movement participants since the movement’s protests ended on April 10.

More than 400 people have been questioned or investigated by the prosecutors and the police, who obtained the protesters’ personal and medical information — sometimes illegally — since the three-week-long occupation of the Legislative Yuan’s main chamber, they said.