Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma had denied a claim by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lo Chung-shen (羅宗勝) that he was planning to sell the city's shares in Fubon too cheaply and had visited the private club at least 10 times to discuss a deal with company executives.
The mayor had said he had visited the club only two or three times to dine with people who contributed to the merger of TaipeiBank and Fubon last year.
The Taipei City Government said yesterday afternoon that Ma actually went to the club five times: three times to meet with Fubon president Tsai Ming-chung (
"I am sorry that the city government could not release the correct information the first time and caused so much confusion," Ma said yesterday. "I have also ordered all city government employees, including myself, to stop going to private companies' clubs in future for business socialization purposes."
According to the city government, Fubon invited Ma twice, on Sept. 16 last year and Aug. 11 this year.
The other time he met Tsai at the club was on Feb. 27 this year, at the invitation of Goldman Sachs, which was consulting the city government on the merger between TaipeiBank and Fubon.
The other two times Ma went to the club were to meet the Shing-sheng Elementary School parents' association and to meet members of the Dwen An Social Welfare Foundation (
Lo, who claimed on Wednesday that Ma had been to the club at least 10 times, yesterday revised his estimate down to six times, but did not elaborate.
Taipei City acquired a 15 percent stake in Fubon as part of the privatization of TaipeiBank, which the city owned, last December.
Ma has announced plans to reduce the city's stake to 9 percent by selling Fubon shares to fill a hole in the city government's finances for next year.
City councilors said they were worried Ma would sell the shares too cheaply and that he had cut some kind of deal with Fubon.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique