President Ma Ying-jeou recently announced the plan to establish a new agency to fight corruption, which will be under the Ministry of Justice with a staff of 200 people in initial stages. The president emphasized that he has great determination to eradicate corruption in all sectors of the government.

In light of the scandals involving police officers and judges, President Ma Ying-jeou held a press conference, saying that he feels deep bitterness about the recent scandals and announcing the establishment of the anti-corruption agency.

However, the agency is unlike its counterpart in Hong Kong, which is under the highest administrative officer.

In the initial stage, the agency will be manned by 200 people, including prosecutors and staff from the ethics departments of government agencies.

But such planning draws doubts because it is speculated as "the same medicine differently prepared."

President Ma has high hopes of the new agency as which is expected to investigate cases independently.

Facing the outside criticism that the KMT blocked the DPP from establishing the agency, President Ma used his campaign platforms two years ago to back up the move, adding that the biggest meaning for the agency is to empower ethics officials.

Ma dismissed criticism that setting up the new agency will be redundant and will overlap with the several other government organizations already responsible for stamping out corruption, such as the Investigation Bureau under the Justice Ministry, instead they will provide cross-fire against corruption.