Taiwanese lawmakers pushed, grappled and threw water bottles at each other as the government passed a controversial amendment that will protect former President Chen Shui-bian from charges of corruption.
Lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) passed the amendment under a hail of plastic bottles and fake banknotes from opposition politicians.
Chen was the first DPP candidate to be elected president. He led Taiwan from 2000 to 2008 and was indicted the year he left office for the alleged misuse of Presidential Office funds. The case is currently going through a second retrial at the Taiwan High Court.
On Monday, the legislature voted to expand the rules of the Accounting Act so that officials cannot be prosecuted for how they used discretionary government funds before 2007.
That means former President Chen will be absolved of alleged wrongdoing.
Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, says the government should not be focusing its attention on acquitting Chen while Taiwan is going through a surge in local COVID infections.
But the ruling party says lawmakers have already decriminalized the misuse of other, similar kinds of government funds. That’s why the party says it makes sense to make the law clearer and decriminalize the misuse of all discretionary funds.