Allegations endanger TTV share sale

Lawmakers yesterday demanded that the Ministry of Finance suspend its proposed sale of shares in Taiwan Television Enterprise Ltd (TTV, 台視) after a Japanese TV company said the government had tried to intervene in the sale.

In a meeting of the legislature's Finance Committee yesterday morning, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) accused Government Information Office (GIO) Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) and Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) of trying to lobby for a specific media outlet during the share sale.

Lo said such lobbying was tantamount to intimidation.

TTV former chairman Lai Kuo-chou (賴國洲) and Japan's Fuji Television Network official Sumio Hasegawa said on Sunday that Cheng and Chen had arranged a lunch in January during which they suggested that Fuji transfer its TTV shares to the Liberty Times Group (the parent company of the Taipei Times) because the group was "trustworthy" and was close to the government.

Cheng and Chen yesterday denied trying to pressure Fuji for the Liberty Times Group's benefit.

Minister of Finance Ho Chih-chin (何志欽) said the ministry had not intervened or tampered with the sale, but the Finance Committee still passed a motion demanding that the share sale be suspended until the questions raised could be resolved.

Despite the lawmakers' move, the five potential investor groups -- Era TV (年代電視), Unique Satellite TV (非凡電視), Dafeng TV Ltd (大豐電視), Hung Pang Construction Co (鴻邦建設) and Want Want Group (旺旺集團) -- went ahead with briefings on their operational proposals for TTV as scheduled by the GIO.

In the face of the snowballing scandal, Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) announced last night that review of the five groups' qualifications would be postponed until next Wednesday.

Tsai said the delay would give some of the groups time to provide more detailed information that had been requested.

This would ensure that interests and rights of public shareholders, TTV employees and the media would be respected, she said.

Given the delay, the deadline for the groups that qualify for the second round of bidding to submit their tenders has been pushed back from Friday to April 11, Tsai said.

Meanwhile, pan-blue lawmakers demanded Cheng and Chen resign because of their alleged interference in the TTV sale.

"The government's handling of the case was an ugly act. It was an international scandal," Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Hsu Shao-ping (徐少萍) told a press conference yesterday.

KMT lawmakers called on the National Communication Commission to investigate the allegation as soon as possible.

The government has set a two-stage plan to offload its shares in TTV.

First, it plans to sell the 25.7 percent shareholding owned by First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), Hua Nan Commercial Bank (華南銀行), Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) and Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) via public auctions.

In the second stage, it will release the remaining state-owned shares -- 21.6 percent -- that are now controlled by the Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) and Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) to the public.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan