Suspended Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Kong Jaw-sheng (
"I have been suspended and I will leave ... it is impossible for me to return to the post," Kong told reporters yesterday.
"I respect the Cabinet's decision. But I came in [to the position of FSC chairman] with a clean reputation and I hope to leave with one," Kong said.
PHOTO: AP
He repeated these sentiments several times during the press conference, but shied away from giving a date for his resignation.
Stressing that he held himself to high moral standards and had a clear conscience, Kong said: "I am in this situation today because I got in the way of certain interest groups as the head of an independent financial supervisor, whose duties always involve interests worth tens of billions of dollars."
The official, who said he was politically naive, declined to identify the "interest groups" to which he referred.
Looking solemn but tired, Kong made the remarks at a media briefing yesterday after three days of silence following the Cabinet's unexpected decision to suspend him late last Friday.
Kong was questioned for about 13 hours and released on bail of NT$500,000 (US$15,800) last Thursday by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, which is investigating claims he conducted public business for private gain during his chairmanship at the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taisugar,
He was accused of awarding Taisugar's upscale cosmetics franchise to a certain company without going through the regulatory procurement process as well as bypassing government procurement requirements and hiring his sister-in-law as a paid consultant to the company's coffee shop business.
Kong was nominated to chair the FSC by the premier at the time, Yu Shyi-kun, and approved by President Chen Shui-bian (
As the position of FSC chairman has a four-year tenure, and the nation's highest financial regulator is supposed to be immune to political influence in order to safeguard the independent status of financial policy-making, some have questioned whether it is possible for Kong to be forcibly removed.
The confrontation between Kong and the Cabinet appeared to escalate yesterday as the government said it stood by its decision on Kong's suspension.
Premier Su Tseng-chang (
The ruling was made with prudence and legitimacy, and would not be changed, Cheng said, adding that the Cabinet expected Kong to make a "wise decision" as soon as possible.
Denying the allegations against him, Kong said it did not make sense that he would give up a well-paid job at an international investment banking business to make relatively small profits through corruption as a public servant on a much smaller salary.
Kong spent 20 years in the financial industry before entering the public sector, serving as a national manager for Credit Suisse First Boston and president of Lehman Brothers Holding Inc's Taiwan unit.
In light of recent developments, legislators are planning to amend regulations and set up a mechanism to dismiss corrupt officials who are in positions that enjoy political immunity.
Another such position of safety is that of governor of the central bank.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
RSS