Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) yesterday denied allegations that he meddled with the commission’s Taiwan Residential Earthquake Insurance Fund (TREIF).
At a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee in Taipei, New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) accused Koo of using his influence to pressure the TREIF against pursuing reimbursement from Aon PLC, a multinational reinsurance brokerage firm based in London.
Koo adopted a soft stance toward Aon because he had provided legal counsel to the company in 2015 before becoming a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politician, Huang said.
In a heated exchange that lasted more than a half-hour, Koo denied the allegations and called them attacks on his character.
TREIF chairman Chen Ming-ren (陳明仁), at Huang’s prompting, told lawmakers that Koo had last month instructed him to drop claims against Aon during a meeting at the commission.
INTERNAL DISCORD
Chen, elder brother of DPP Electoral Strategy Committee coconvener Chen Ming-wen (陳明文), said that Koo had asked other participants in the meeting to vacate the room before giving him the order and telling him that the commission wanted to retain Ho Chih-wei (侯自維) as the fund’s president.
Koo said that he only became involved with the fund after learning of growing discord within its leadership amid Chen Ming-ren’s continued efforts to remove Ho.
Chen Ming-ren’s accusations that Ho had breached ethical regulations during reinsurance rate negotiations have not been verified, Koo said, adding that the commission’s Insurance Bureau has investigated irregularities regarding his use of the fund’s promotional budget, which has caused him to distrust the commission.
Regarding his connection with Aon, Koo said that he was briefly part of the firm’s legal counsel before transferring his duties to another law firm.
PROSECUTION?
While Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy secretary-general William Tseng (曾銘宗) suggested turning the session’s findings over to prosecutors, DPP lawmakers disagreed, saying that a case cannot be made on hearsay alone.
At the end of the meeting, the Finance Committee asked the commission to provide a comprehensive report on the fund’s reinsurance negotiations in two weeks, while DPP lawmakers asked Tseng to press charges via the proper channels if wishes to do so.
DPP Legislator Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋) said he suspects that Huang and Chen Ming-ren conspired to attack Koo, given the amount of information on reinsurance contracts Huang had on hand.
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