Lawmakers across party lines yesterday lashed out at heads of the Financial Supervisory Commission and subordinate Banking Bureau, demanding that officials step down to take responsibility for alleged improper decision-making linked to the snowballing Rebar Group saga.
As the suspected embezzlement scandal widened since two subsidiaries of the Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太企業集團) claimed insolvency protection last week, lawmakers grilled the commission Chairman Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) yesterday, criticizing the financial regulator for not preventing the crisis from commencing at the outset.
The commission should have taken over The Chinese Bank (
PHOTO: CHIANG CHIA-MING, AP
"Your bad decision-making has wasted taxpayers' money," Fai said, panning both Shih and Banking Bureau Director General Gary Tseng (
Minister of Finance Ho Chih-chin (
Shih said The Chinese Bank was taken over by the government last Friday after the lender lost NT$43 billion (US$1.31 billion), or 27 percent of its total deposits, in its last three days of independent operation.
Earlier this week, the commission said it found evidence several months ago suggesting misconduct and embezzlement within the Rebar Group. The commission handed major shareholder Wang You-theng (
But both Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yu Jan-daw (
KMT Legislator Lee Jih-chu (
The commission should have taken over those banks when their adjusted net worth became negative after factoring in the loss incurred from the sale of bad debts, Lee said citing the restructuring fund's regulations.
In response to the legislators' criticisms, Shih said Rebar's complex financial problems were not forged in one day and the regulator has endeavored to fulfill its supervision duty and expects the decision to end The Chinese Bank's lending operations will produce positive results.
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