TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — DPP Legislator Wu Szu-yao (吳思瑤) has criticised the High Court ruling in Hsinchu Mayor Kao Hung-an’s (高虹安) corruption case, alleging interference from the Legislative Yuan.
Citing the potential impact of the case and differences between rules governing local councilors and national lawmakers, the High Court suspended proceedings in January and sought clarification from the Constitutional Court and the Legislative Yuan. The Constitutional Court declined to issue a review, while the Legislative Yuan responded that legislative assistant fees are subsidy-based in nature, allowing for broad discretion in their use, per UDN.
Wu criticized the legislature’s response, calling it direct interference in the judicial process, per NOWNews. She said it allowed the court to rely on the legislature’s interpretation when clearing Kao of the corruption charges.
DPP Legislator Puma Shen (沈伯洋) added that all legislators would simply need to “claim that assistant fees are used at the discretion of the legislators in the future” when faced with similar charges, per UP Media. Lawyer and pro-DPP commentator Lin Chih-chun (林智群) questioned that if the assistant fees are used at the legislator’s discretion, how is it a crime when the legislator takes some of the money, per ETtoday.
Lawyer Wang Chih-te (王至德) noted that Kao’s case uncovered a well-known secret inside the Legislative Yuan, per ETtoday. Citing the decision, he explained that nearly all lawmakers accept the maximum amount of allocated aide fees and are fairly liberal with the usage.
Wang said the High Court’s reasoning reflected political realities within the legislature. The court noted that roughly NT$116,514 (US$3,690) of the NT$460,040 in question was used by Kao, an amount it found was less than what she paid out of pocket to her personal aide.
Wang said the ruling indicated the court’s view that as long as the funds were used for work-related purposes, they did not constitute corruption. He added that because the decision departs from precedent in similar cases involving local councilors, prosecutors are likely to appeal.
On the forgery conviction, Wang said the issue was separate from how the money was ultimately used. He noted that Kao reported an aide’s salary as NT$80,000 to the Legislative Yuan when it was in fact NT$70,000.
