The financial regulator said its officials had not leaked information to allow Rebar Asia Pacific Group (
Wang left Taiwan on Dec. 30 for Shanghai after two Rebar subsidiaries -- China Rebar Co (
In a statement issued yesterday, the Financial Supervisory Commission said that both the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office and the Investigation Bureau had concluded that there had been no disclosure by commission officials which would have facilitated Wang's escape.
"Prior to China Rebar and Chia Hsin's applying to district court for business reorganization, [the commission's] Examination Bureau and Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp did not perform a financial check on either the two companies or the Union Insurance Co (友聯產險)," the statement read.
"Therefore, there should be no such speculation of an inside leak to enable Wang's fleeing the country," it said.
Arrest warrants were issued by prosecutors on Friday against Wang and his wife, Wang Chin She-ying (
The commission's Banking Bureau Director General Gary Tseng (
The Rebar Group is the parent company of more than 130 subsidiaries, including listed China Rebar and Chia Hsin.
The multiple cross shareholding relationships that exist among Rebar companies, added to the apparent lack of corporate governance within the Rebar Group have made the conglomerate's financial problems more difficult to address than expected.
On Jan. 4 Chia Hsin said that as of September last year, it had accumulated debts of NT$19.9 billion (US$607.5 million) and losses of NT$11.47 billion in the past seven years, while China Rebar, which acts as a guarantor for Chia Hsin, said it had debts worth NT$20.7 billion and losses of NT$13.84 billion for the same period.
News of insolvency at China Rebar and Chia Hsin led to a bank run at The Chinese Bank (
As of Jan. 11, panicked depositors had reportedly withdrawn approximately NT$55 billion from The Chinese Bank in the previous seven days, a figure the FSC would neither deny nor confirm on Friday.
Prosecutors and investigators last Wednesday raided the Rebar Group headquarters in Taipei and on Thursday detained Chia Hsin general manager Wang Lin-i (王令一) and Union Insurance Co (友聯產險) president Frank Wang (王事展).
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last