President Ma Ying-jeou on the afternoon of July 20 listened to a briefing presented by the Ministry of Justice on the feasibility of establishing an "anti-corruption administration." After the briefing, the president held a press conference at the Presidential Office, explaining the government's intention to establish such a unit in the future, as well as important work to fight corruption.
The president delivered the following remarks:
In early June, a group of police officials were found to be frequenting a venue operated by organized criminals. This news attracted quite a bit of public attention. Then last week, several judges on the Taiwan High Court allegedly received a series of bribes in connection with a single case. This incident has led to a nationwide uproar. Judges, prosecutors, and the police are the final line in protecting social justice. Of course, we cannot allow this line of defense to be destroyed by unscrupulous police, judges, and prosecutors. The government absolutely must take effective measures to prevent and punish corruption if it is to fulfill its responsibility to the public.
In January of this year, I nominated the then Deputy Justice Minister Huang Shih-ming to the position of Prosecutor-General so that he could maintain clean government and help crack down on corruption. He has not let us down. He has worked very hard, and within just three months after his appointment already compiled a long list of accomplishments. The public has greeted his efforts with applause.
I just now listened together with Premier Wu Den-yih to a report by the Ministry of Justice on the feasibility of establishing an anti-corruption administration. Both Premier Wu and I feel that the idea of establishing such an agency under the Ministry of Justice is very workable. Therefore, I would like to announce to the public that I have already requested that the Executive Yuan and the Ministry of Justice amend laws as soon as possible and then propose to the Legislative Yuan the establishment of an agency under the Ministry of Justice to be responsible for preventing and punishing corruption.
I am determined – and I cannot emphasize this point enough – to establish clean government. And I am not talking just about top officials, either. The principle of not engaging in corruption must be uppermost in the hearts and minds of each civil servant. Public servants need to understand that legal and ethical requirements cannot be violated or trampled upon. We will not permit a small number of corrupt officials to sully the reputation of all public servants. This damages the image and erodes the credibility of the government.
Our decision to put the anti-corruption administration under the Ministry of Justice departs from the approach adopted in Singapore and Hong Kong, where such units report directly to the premier or even the head of state.
We intend to place this agency under the Ministry of Justice because the ROC has a civil law system. Under this system, prosecutors are involved in investigation. This differs from the common law system that is used in Hong Kong and Singapore. If we put the anti-corruption administration under the premier or the president, it would upset the system in which prosecutors are responsible for investigating crimes, and this would result in enormous problems down the road. When I served as the Minister of Justice, I believed that strengthened efforts were needed to prevent and punish corruption, but never felt that we should copy the systems used in Singapore or Hong Kong. Rather, we should take the path that is most appropriate for us.
I mentioned during my campaign for the presidency that two years after taking office I would evaluate whether to establish an anti-corruption administration. Now the decision has been made to establish such a unit under the Ministry of Justice. Even though this approach is different from that adopted by Hong Kong and Singapore, the special mission of the agency will be the same, which is to prevent and punish corruption. In other words, the difference between this agency and other criminal investigation units is that the anti-corruption administration will not investigate other types of cases. It will be solely responsible for investigating corruption. Beyond that, its responsibility will at most include investigations into vote buying.
Each of us is aware that every member of the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau, and the Ministry of National Defense Military Police’s investigation groups are all judicial police authorities. The Coast Guard Administration also acts as a judicial police authority in smuggling cases. All of these agencies can engage in judicial investigations, so some may question whether there is overlapping authority, or whether different entities might try to shift blame on others. This, however, can be avoided, because all of these agencies handle cases under the direction of prosecutors. In the event of overlapping authority, the prosecutor responsible for directing the investigation must appropriately divide work and forge cooperation. Just like Premier Wu mentioned in discussing the principle of "interlocking fire," there must be no uncovered "blind spots" if we are to fight corruption effectively.
At present, Taiwan has more than one criminal investigation agency. However, there is still no agency that is specifically devoted to and responsible only for anti-corruption. Article 2 of the Organic Act for the Investigation Bureau sets forth 20 responsibilities of the agency, with one of these being clean government. However, the organization has over a dozen other duties, such as fighting organized crime, money laundering, economic crimes, and vote buying. The anti-corruption administration that we are establishing will provide a strong and comprehensive platform to fight corruption. I would like to stress that there are three main reasons for this. First, having a larger and stronger unit to address corruption will enable us to prevent and punish corruption more effectively. The future anti-corruption administration will have the status of a judicial police authority. It will have the power to carry out investigations and will be able to apply to the courts for search warrants and attachment orders. It will even be able to take people into custody and do exactly what the police do. A large number of officials in the anti-corruption administration will have the authority to investigate, which will make the administration more powerful, and boost efficiency and results. Therefore, the most important reason to establish this unit is to strengthen the efficacy of our efforts to prevent and punish corruption. This is especially the case with regards to prevention. Presently, there are ethics units spread throughout over 1,900 government agencies, and we want the new anti-corruption administration to exert coordinated direction of their work against corruption. In particular, we hope that the Integrity and Ethics Directions for Civil Servants that took effect on August 1 two years ago will provide a clear code for public servants to observe in their social activities and engagements.
The second reason for establishing an anti-corruption administration is to meet the expectations of the public. Over the past two years, public opinion polls have shown that over 70% of our people hope the government will establish an organization dedicated to cracking down on corruption. Evidently, our people are not satisfied with the government's current anti-corruption agencies.
Thirdly, we must act in accordance with international trends. In 2003, the United Nations passed the Convention Against Corruption. Articles 6 and 36 of this convention specially calls on parties to this agreement to establish a body or bodies to prevent corruption. It seems clear that the framers of the Convention understand that anti-corruption systems vary from one country to the next, and there may be more than one anti-corruption body in a single country. This is another reason why we are looking to establish such an agency at this juncture, as it will demonstrate to the world our determination to prevent and eradicate corruption.
Most people have the impression that staff in ethics offices are "toothless tigers," as they do not have the authority to carry out investigations. The anti-corruption administration, however, will be able to develop a clear understanding of all the possibilities for corruption in various government units. The administration initially will only have about 200 employees. As a result, some of the most capable employees in ethics offices will be transferred to serve in this unit and play an important role in the effort to crack down on corruption.
Some people might ask whether the anti-corruption administration will be able to rid the government of corruption. Of course, this is impossible. I have long believed that addressing the problem of corruption to a large degree depends on how determined the head of government is to achieve this goal. Confucius said 2,500 years ago: "An upright man will be obeyed even if no orders are given; a crooked man will not be obeyed even if orders are given." This remains true 2,500 years later. Consequently, a head of state must not only be clean, but also must achieve the "four no's" in preventing corruption: 1) Has no desire to be corrupt, as he himself is clean; 2) Has no need to be corrupt, as his salary is already sufficient; 3) Has no opportunity to be corrupt, as a comprehensive legal framework prevents it; and 4) Won't dare to be corrupt, as penalties for corruption are severe. In addition to these "four no's," a head of state must be determined to enable his or her subordinates to follow in his or her footsteps. In addition, government officials should not be afraid to have their dirty laundry aired in public, so to speak. In handling internal affairs, the government must actively uncover corruption, rapidly deal with it, cooperate with investigations, and keep the public informed. This takes strength of character, which is what the head of a public agency should have.
Therefore, we hope that government agencies in the future will be able to fully put into practice the Integrity and Ethics Directions for Civil Servants. All government agencies, at both the central and local levels, should regularly report to agencies responsible for clean government on the state of conduct in their units. Today, the main objectives of the establishment of the anti-corruption administration are: 1) to reduce the crime rate and prevent corruption; and 2) to raise the conviction rate so that justice will indeed be served on those involved in corruption. At the same time, every effort must be made to neither malign the innocent nor let the guilty go free. Human rights must be protected. This is a fundamental principle that we cannot neglect in our work to crack down on corruption.