A massive financial scandal continued lumbering forward yesterday, as lawmakers alleged that one of the companies involved had not submitted financial reports for years, while the government apparently turned a blind eye.
Legislators yesterday demanded that the Cabinet dismiss seven government officials who were board members for Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (亞太固網), a company related to the scandal-plagued Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太企業集團).
Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom was raided yesterday in an effort to determine the fate of more than NT$60 billion (US$1.83 billion) the company raised in bonds.
PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
Lawmakers and political parties invested heavily in the firm, as did a number of state-run companies.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Tseng Tsahn-deng (曾燦燈) told a press conference that over the past six years, the broadband company had not presented financial reports to its board members.
Despite this, he said, seven government officials who represented three government-related investors on the company's board had done nothing.
The caucus said figures from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) showed that the Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) had invested NT$8 billion (US$243 million) in the company in 2000.
The Chiao Tung Bank (交通銀行) -- which became Mega International Commercial Bank (兆豐國際商銀) after merging with International Commercial Bank of China (中國國際商銀) -- invested NT$2.1 billion, while state-controlled China Steel Corp (中鋼) invested NT$1.2 billion in the company the same year.
As the government owns a major portion of the shares of the bank and China Steel, the TSU caucus criticized officials for failing to safeguard the public's money.
Tseng also urged prosecutors to investigate whether government officials had been covering up for the company over the past six years.
"You had not seen financial reports between 2000 and last year, and you did not find out the fact that the company had problems? Have you all been asleep?" TSU Legislator David Huang (
None of them respondend.
MOEA State-owned Enterprise Commission section chief Ho Hua-hsun (
Ho added that China Steel was considering taking joint legal action with other stock holders againt the company.
TRA Deputy Director-General Hsu Yi-nan (徐亦南), who was also at the conference, denied that the TRA had made a careless investment, saying that the TRA did not decide to invest in the company as a result of any "outside pressure."
He did not, however, explain why the TRA had decided to invest in the company or why it had taken no interest in its financial performance.
Meanwhile, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) has ordered new probes into financial dealings between Rebar Group and Eastern Multimedia Group (東森多媒體), Cabinet Spokes-man Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said yesterday.
Su gave the directives at a Monday meeting of a special task force handling the Rebar Group scandal, Cheng said.
According to Cheng, the premier also called for probes into the personal assets and bank accounts of Eastern Group chairman Gary Wang (
The Ministry of Justice has formally requested US officials to assist with its investigation into fugitive Rebar Group chairman Wang You-theng's (
FUGITIVES
Meanwhile, the hunt for Wang You-theng and his wife Wang Chin She-ying (
The two are believed to be holding passports from the Solomon Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis, two of Taiwan's diplomatic allies, officials said yesterday.
The couple may have used the passports to flee the country, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Spokesman David Wang (
David Wang confirmed that Wang Chin Shyh-ying served as an honorary consul-general of the Solomon Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Whether the couple obtained passports from the two countries is not yet known, he said.
"Serving as an honorary consul-general for those countries does not necessarily mean they possess passports. The ministry cannot infer such a conclusion based on this fact, but we will ask these two countries to help find out," he said.
MOFA revoked the couple's Taiwanese passports on Monday and informed Taiwan's representative offices in other countries that the government has listed the two as wanted.
Su has instructed MOFA to contact the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) for possible US assistance in the apprehension of the couple.
Although Taiwan signed a judicial aid agreement with the US in March 2002, the agreement does not cover extradition of criminal suspects or convicts.
As Taiwan and the US do not maintain formal diplomatic ties and have not signed an extradition treaty, MOFA officials said it won't be easy to repatriate the fugitives from the US.
But they added that the possibility exists, particularly if the two were involved in money laundering on US territory.
Rebar Group's financial woes came to light after two of its subsidiaries applied for insolvency protection on Dec. 29.
Judicial probes into the group's suspected financial crimes followed. Investigators have launched a number of rounds of large-scale searches at Rebar's headquarters and offices of its subsidiaries and private homes of the Wang family and corporate executives.
Early investigation results also prompted a decision by the prosecutors to impose an overseas travel ban on a total of 48 Rebar group executives and Wang family members on charges of breach of trust, forgery, fraud, insider trading, embezzlement of corporate funds and violations of the banking law and accounting regulations.
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
RSS