Cigarette Smuggling Case, Lost Cash Case, and Officials Who Protect and Defend Their Relatives or Friends

 Cigarette Smuggling Case, Lost Cash Case, and Officials Who Protect and Defend Their Relatives or Friends

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

September 27, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

The Tsai government has recently had a series of scandals, but relying on the interlacing protection and defense of relatives or friends between DPP legislators, political appointees, or prosecutors and investigators, the government often utilizes various tactics to cover them up. Legislator Huang Guo-chang recently exposed the fact that Lin Jia-ru, a consultant at the Presidential Palace, ordered 37 cartons of duty-free cigarettes, debunking the lie that claimed no confidential staffers were involved in the cigarette smuggling case. On the same day, Deputy Justice Minister Tsai Pi-chung, for DPP legislator Chen Ming-wen’s NT$3 million in cash case, had a fiery exchange in the parliament with a KMT legislator, even "counter-interpellating" lawmakers, a behavior so loud and rancorous as to be beyond imagination.

The Presidential Palace repeatedly stated that no political appointees or confidential staffers were involved in the cigarette smuggling case, thus Chen Chu, Secretary-General to the President, was not required to appear before the Legislative Yuan to report on the case. However, according to the sustained investigation by Huang Guo-chang, who originally exposed the cigarette smuggling case, it was discovered that Lin Jia-ru, a consultant in the Presidential Palace, had ordered 37 cartons of duty-free cigarettes alone. This shows that the Presidential Palace not only deliberately concealed the facts, but legislators also determined that she “bought the cigarettes on board the chartered flight” and cut her off from the case without investigation; both sides, i.e., the Presidential Palace and the investigators, protected her by dropping the charges.

More explosive than the cigarette smuggling case is the cloud of mystery surrounding DPP legislator Chen Ming-wen, who left behind a briefcase containing NT$3 million in cash on a High-Speed Rail (HSR) train. Deputy Justice Minister Tsai Pi-chung, in a Legislative Yuan committee meeting, roared at a KMT legislator; such grotesque behavior seemed as if he had still been Chen Ming-wen’s "defense counsel", defending Chen in a courtroom. In 2007, Chen Ming-wen was involved in a scandal of the Minxiong Township sewerage engineering project; at the time, Tsai Pi-chung won for Chen Ming-wen an acquittal decision, while asking for state compensation. In 2016, Chen Ming-wen, as top lieutenant in the Tsai Ing-wen faction, recommended Tsai Pi-chung as Deputy Justice Minister in appreciation of his services. This time, in the cloud of mystery involving NT$3 million in cash, it was Tsai Pi-chung’s turn to show his appreciation, providing guidance and protection to Chen Ming-wen. With such “friendship and loyalty” between the duo, it has written a new chapter in the personnel appointments and the rule of law of the Tsai government.

Along the same lines is HSR Chairman Chiang Yao-chung’s case. When a legislator interpellated him, he surprisingly used the grounds that “the case has entered into criminal justice proceedings” to refuse to provide the whole story from locating the briefcase containing NT$3 million in cash on the HSR train to returning the briefcase to Chen Ming-wen. Originally an easy matter, however, became a case officials tried to hide here and there, not daring to enlighten the public. It can be seen from this that working in the Tsai government, folks rely on political instincts of showing loyalty, and not professionalism, not to mention the rule of law.

Chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Wellington Koo’s attitude is also extremely ambiguous. With respect to the intended use of Chen Ming-wen’s NT$3 million in cash, Chen never had a straight story, and it was withdrawn from his nephew’s bank account, obviously inviting suspicions of money laundering. However, Wellington Koo, nevertheless, cited that the FSC “had no authority of investigation” over individuals, pretending that the “Money Laundering Prevention and Control Act” had never existed, talking about things unrelated to the subject. With such a FSC, weren’t it among those protecting and defending relatives and friends?

In the Tsai government, “going around the law” reigns supreme everywhere. The handling of the cigarette smuggling case is half-baked; about the money laundering case, the authorities can look at it but not touch it. In personnel assignments, the government relies on connections; “with connections”, there won’t be any problems. President Tsai, relying on picking up guns, has revitalized her reputation and authority; what would she care about trust and justice?

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