The Taipei City Government's Department of Labor Affairs yesterday was still searching for NT$450 million (US$13 million) that is missing from China Rebar Co's (中國力霸) labor pension account.
In addition to discovering that the account at the Central Trust of China had a balance of just NT$650,000, department officials also learned that members of the pension account examination committee were appointed by the company, rather than employee representatives, and that the committee had not checked the account for more than a year.
"With little money left in the account, no one in the company will be able to receive a full retirement pension," commissioner of the department Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴) said yesterday at city hall.
After the department failed to find out what had happened to the money, Su said the department had handed the case over to the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office for further investigation.
In an effort to protect the livelihoods of more than 10,000 employees in a total of 25 Rebar Asia Pacific Group (力霸亞太企業集團) companies that are located in Taipei City, the department began to review the companies' pension accounts on Tuesday, and found that a total of NT$450 million had disappeared from Rebar China's pension account. The pension account of another of the group's companies, Chia Hsin Food and Synthetic Fiber Co (嘉新食品化纖), had a balance of just NT$24,000.
"The situation is pretty bad, and we are worried that the companies may not be able to pay salaries," Su added.
After a visit to China Rebar, Su said the company's general manager Wang Lin-mei (
Su said the department would watch closely to see if Wang carried out her promise.
When asked whether the department had examined the company's pension funds before, Su said that the department had never previously examined its accounts, but added that the group's financial problems were not the sole responsibility of the city government.
"Companies that are located in Taipei accounted for only 10 percent of the group, and our department takes the initiative in doing our best to protect employees' rights," Su said. "This issue involved many local governments and the central government as well."
Council of Labor Affairs Vice Chairman Kuo Foung-yu (
"They have been making the bare minimum monthly payments of 2 percent of the employees' wages into the funds," he added, "and there's no evidence of impropriety in terms of recent withdrawals from the account."
When asked whether it would be possible for employees to take their retirement money out of Rebar now, Kuo replied that they would first need to fulfill the conditions for retirement.
"What's important to employees right now is keeping their jobs," he said.
Company officials at Rebar Asia Pacific Group and Chia Hsin Food and Synthetic Fiber Co claimed that they are not in charge of the pension fund accounts and thus have no idea of where the money went, the Chinese-language Central News Agency reported, citing Lee Chin-hsiang (李金祥), associate manager of Rebar Group's human resource division, and Kuo Li-li (郭立力), acting president of Chia Hsin.
Additional reporting by Angelica Oung
also see stories:
Wang believed to be on business visa
Pro-independence group says Beijing must repatriate white-collar criminals
Embattled telco plans board reshuffle
Banks vow to take legal action against Rebar firms
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to