Kuan Lambastes Control Yuan for Abuse of Power in Impeachment Case Against Him

 Kuan Lambastes Control Yuan for Abuse of Power in Impeachment Case Against Him

Source: UDN

August 20, 2019

Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔), president of National Taiwan University, was impeached by the Control Yuan, the highest watchdog body of the nation, on the grounds that he had “unlawfully held an adjunct job,” i.e., writing editorials for Next Magazine while serving as a government official, and the case was referred to the Commission on Disciplinary Sanctions of Public Functionaries, under the Judicial Yuan, following the impeachment. In a hearing for oral arguments conducted by the Commission yesterday, Kuan lambasted the Control Yuan for abuse of power, with its investigation failing to conform to the principle of proportionality. Kuan described the Control Yuan’s impeachment against him as political persecution.

During the hearing, the Control Yuan opined that while serving as a minister of state without portfolio and chairman of the National Development Council, under the Cabinet, between February 2012 and February 2015, Kuan had anonymously written editorials for Next Magazine on a regular basis to receive manuscript fees amounting to some NT$650,000 (approx. US$21,000) yearly, in violation of the provisions on adjunct jobs in Article 14 of the Public Functionary Service Act.

On the other hand, Kuan stressed that he had held no position at Next Magazine. He went on to say that from the media to the public, no one regarded receiving an invitation by a media outlet to write for it as a “job,” adding that as it was not a job, there was no “adjunct job” to speak of, and in as much as it was not an adjunct job, no laws had been violated.

In addition, Kuan pointed out that editorials were always posted without the authors’ names as they were written on behalf of the publication, asking “How could the Control Yuan use the word ‘anonymous’?”

Kuan also cited an article carried in Storm Media by Chen Chao-ping (陳朝平), who had served as director of the op-ed page columns in two major newspapers, saying that “from the President on down to government officials,” they had written editorials or penned columns for newspapers or magazines.

The Commission on Disciplinary Sanctions of Public Functionaries is slated to hand down a ruling on the case on the afternoon of September 2.

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