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Kuo Kuan-ying’s rehiring, retirement to be probed
By Su Fang-ho and Sean Lin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Examination Yuan Vice President Wu Jin-lin (伍錦霖) yesterday said that the retirement of Kuo Kuan-ying (郭冠英) has yet to be approved by the Ministry of Civil Service, so the matter has been returned to the Taiwan Provincial Government to await further investigation by the Control Yuan.
Wu, nominated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for the post of Examination Yuan president, made the remarks in response to questions from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) at the legislature over the legitimacy of Kuo’s contentious rehiring as a foreign affairs secretary at the Taiwan Provincial Government in Nantou County.
Kuo, former secretary of the now defunct Government Information Office in Toronto, Canada, sparked public outrage when it came to light that he had published a number of comments in 2009 disparaging ethnic Taiwanese.
He once again became a source of controversy after he was assigned to the foreign affairs secretary post in February, just two weeks shy of his 65th birthday, entitling him to a monthly pension of NT$70,000 (US$2,330).
Wu Jin-lin yesterday said that the agencies concerned should investigate the records of civil servants prior to their employment, adding that should the process be flawed, Control Yuan ombudsmen should propose corrective measures, or the civil servants in question should renounce their positions.
In response, Wu Ping-jui denounced the Ministry of Civil Service, saying that it should have investigated the case proactively, instead of waiting idly by for the Control Yuan’s reports.
Control Yuan member Chien Lin Hui-chun (錢林慧君) separately yesterday called Kuo’s post at the provincial government a “patronage appointment.”
Citing the Civil Servants Retirement Act (公務人員退休法), which states that those born between January and June are officially retired on July 16, Kuo only needs to stay in the post for three months before he is entitled to his pension, she said.
Such an arrangement is extremely unusual, given the strict enforcement of the act, she added.
When Chien Lin attempted to bring the case before the Committee of Domestic and Minority Affairs on June 5, she met with mixed opinions, with some members of the committee deeming the matter “not serious enough” for corrective measures to be taken, prompting her to postpone her proposal.
Chien Lin said she has produced a more comprehensive report on the matter and that she plans to propose corrective measures on the Taiwan Provincial Government again on July 3.
source: Taipei Times
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