The Cabinet last night approved the resignation of Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Shih Jun-ji (
More than 40 Rebar Group executives have been questioned by prosecutors in the wake of the scandal, and two members of group founder Wang You-theng's (王又曾) family have been detained. Wang fled to China late last month.
At a press conference last night, Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen (
Tsai said that Premier Su Tseng-chang (
As to who would take up the vacancy left by Shih's departure, Tsai said Su would discuss the issue with the president, who is scheduled to return to Taipei this morning following his five-day trip to Nicaragua, where he attended the inauguration of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on Wednesday.
"I resigned in order to take responsibility for the recent social disturbance caused by the overnight outbreak of long-standing malpractice in the financial sector," Shih said in a text message last night.
Before any official handover, he would continue to restore financial order and further investigate allegations of embezzlement at the Rebar Group with all his effort, he said.
The commission's vice chairwoman, Susan Chang (張秀蓮), said she was surprised by Shih's resignation.
"He did not let us know beforehand. I was so surprised when I saw the news broadcast," Chang said.
Chang will now serve as acting chairwoman while Gary Tseng (
In related news, Democratic Progressive Party legislators were yesterday reportedly divided on whether Su should step down to shoulder the blame for the scandal.
A story in the Chinese-language United Evening News yesterday said that rumors were circulating in pan-green circles that the president was considering sacking the premier upon his return from Nicaragua.
When asked for comment about the reports, deputy Cabinet spokesman William Yih (
"The focus should not be shifted on to the issue of whether the premier should step down," he added.
Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang
Also see stories:
Legislature focuses on bank reforms
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the