Koo family may be wooing votes with Nintendos: official

China Development Financial Holding Co's (中華開發金控) major private shareholder, the Koo family, is reportedly using Nintendo's Wii game consoles to woo proxy votes from big shareholders who hold more than 1 million shares each, a Ministry of Finance official said yesterday.

The official said on condition of anonymity that the ministry had been informed of China Development's plan to exchange shareholders' proxy votes ahead of the financial holding firm's shareholder meeting on June 15.

The official price tag of Wii is about US$250 (NT$8,250).

A fight over proxy vote solicitation between the government and the Koo family has escalated after the two failed to reach agreement on the arrangement of board directors ahead of the impending shareholder meeting.

The Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) stipulates that listed companies, shareholders and individuals are banned from purchasing proxy votes, whether with cash or giveaways or other offers.

Violating the act is punishable with fines and proxy votes solicited in this way are not eligible to vote in the general shareholder meeting, but no criminal charge can be imposed.

The official said the finance ministry had transferred the case to the Financial Supervisory Commission for investigation.

Commission spokesperson Susan Chang (張秀蓮) told the Taipei Times last night its Securities and Futures Bureau would direct the semi-official Taiwan Depository and Clearing Corp (集保公司) to probe the alleged irregularity.