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Military police's move to recover documents inappropriate: premier

ROC Central News Agency

2016/03/07 17:25:27

Taipei, March 7 (CNA) The military police's efforts to obtain old government documents that were being advertised for sale online -- that have sparked accusations of an illegal search -- were inappropriate, Premier Simon Chang (張善政) said Monday.

The Ministry of National Defense (MND) should reassign those involved in the case so that an investigation into the alleged misconduct can be carried out smoothly, Chang said at a press briefing.

The uproar was triggered when a woman surnamed Wei accused military police of conducting an illegal search at her home in late February related to her father's collection of documents from the White Terror era dating back to the 1960s and 1970s.

On Sunday, the Military Police Command rejected Wei's accusation of an illegal search, stating that Wei's father voluntarily cooperated in the investigation and handed over the three classified documents being advertised.

It said the military police's meeting with Wei and their visit to his home was videotaped and showed that no search was conducted, the command said.

Wei's father caught the attention of investigators because he put MND documents related to the White Terror period that he described as 'classified' up for auction online.

The MND apologized Monday morning for the controversy stirred up by the military police's handling of the case and said it would fully cooperate in the Taipei Prosecutors' Office investigation into what happened.

Given that prosecutors have begun looking into the matter, the Cabinet will not interfere with the process, Chang said, but he hoped prosecutors could share information that will help clarify the facts without compromising their investigation.

Chang said the documents in question were 50 years old and should have been destroyed 20 to 30 years ago under declassification procedures.

Instead, they fell into the hands of a private citizen, and 'it is debatable whether it was appropriate' for the MND to launch an investigation targeting a 'leak of classified documents,' Chang said.

He also questioned the use of military police to investigate civilians because any contact with civilians should be made through prosecutors and said have Wei's father sign a form stating that he agreed to cooperate with the military police's search was not an appropriate practice.

Obtaining a search warrant first would have been a better approach, Chang said.

Though the MND contended that military police have the power as judicial police to investigate criminal offenses, deciding whether or not to use military police should depend on the nature of a case, the premier added.

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), meanwhile, instructed that the Cabinet and relevant government agencies find out what actually happened in a speedy manner and make the facts public, Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) said.

Any political maneuvering over the case before the facts are clarified through the judicial process was unnecessary and could have a negative impact on society, Chen added.

(By Tai Ya-chen, Hsieh Chia-chen and Kay Liu)
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