VESTED INTERESTS?Most grand justices were senior judges, prosecutors and legal academics and accumulated many years of service, making them eligible for pensions

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 09, 2017
By: Tseng Wei-chen / Staff reporter

Ten of the nation’s 15 grand justices are eligible for government pensions and should recuse themselves from any constitutional hearing on pension reform, two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators said yesterday.

Opponents of the pension reform bill for civil servants and public-school teachers passed last month have announced plans to begin a legal battle to overturn the legislation as soon as it takes effect in July next year.

While the Judicial Yuan Organization Act (司法院組織法) allows the appointment of lawyers and applicants who have “research law and have rich political experience” as grand justices, most appointees have come from the ranks of senior judges, prosecutors and legal academics who have accumulated many years of service, which often make them eligible for government pension benefits.

Of the 15 justices, Huang Hsi-chun (黃璽君), Tsai Chung-tun (蔡炯燉), Wu Chen-huan (吳陳鐶), Tsai Ming-cheng (蔡明誠) and Chen Be-yue (陳碧玉) have already accumulated “seniority” of more than 25 years, making them eligible for pensions benefits.    [FULL  STORY]