Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday accused Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of a conflict of interest because of her involvement with a biotech start-up after leaving office that received investment from the state-owned National Development Fund. They demanded that documents relating to the investment be made public immediately.
According to fund data, on Feb. 15, 2007 then-Council for Economic Planning and Development chairperson and NDF convener Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) sent documents labeled classified to then-premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and then-vice premier Tsai for approval, stating that under certain conditions, the fund would invest US$20 million in a company that would work with US firm Genentech.
The committee managing the fund passed an incidental motion on April 17 that it would retain the Feb. 15 document for future reference, the fund’s data showed.
On Aug. 31 the same year, Tsai sent a letter to the fund asking it to wire NT$40 million to the account of the “Taimao Protein Technology Co Preparatory Office (台懋蛋白胜科技股份有限公司)” before Sept. 3. Another letter was sent on the same day saying the company’s name had been changed to “Yu Chang Biologics Co (宇昌生技股份有限公司),” repeating the request for the fund to wire NT$40 million to the account of Yu Chang Biologics Co Preparatory Office.
Yu Chang Biologics Co was registered and established on Sept. 5, 2007, with Tsai as its chairperson and the fund took three seats of the seven that made up the company’s board of directorates.
On April 28 2009, Yu Chang Biologics Co changed its name to TaiMed Biologics Co (中裕新藥股份有限公司) and was approved on June 18 last year to register its emerging stocks on the over-the-counter (OTC) board of listed companies.
The legislature’s Economics Committee, where the KMT holds a majority, late yesterday passed a resolution asking the fund to declassify within the week all classified materials concerning the investment in the TaiMed Biologics Co and send the files to the committee for review.
Article 14 Section 1 of the Civil Servant Services Act (公務員服務法) stipulates that civil servants are not allowed, within three years of their resignation, to hold the position of chairperson, supervisor or manager at any company with which they had dealings at any time five years prior to their resignation.
KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) quoted media reports accusing Tsai of having deliberately sought to enrich herself during her tenure as vice premier by asking the fund to invest in a company of which she later became chairperson.
During the questioning, National Development Fund convener Christina Liu (劉憶如) declined to speculate as to whether Tsai violated the “revolving door” clause, saying she would let officials in charge of that section explain the matter.
In response to KMT allegation that by serving as a chairperson of TaiMed Biologics prior to being appointed DPP chairperson, Tsai violated the “revolving door” clause, DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said that Tsai did not violate the clause, according to a detailed explanation of the article in question by the Ministry of Civil Service and the Executive Yuan’s Rules and Regulations Commission in 1996 and 2008.
On the charge that Tsai received NT$100 million in profits from selling her shares in TaiMed Biologics Co, Chen said Tsai became chairperson of TaiMed Biologics Co at the invitation of scientists David Ho (何大一), Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) and Chen Lan-bo (陳良博), three months after she quit her position as vice premier.
Tsai was invited because she had experience negotiating with other organizations and it was hoped that her appointment would help in negotiations with Genentech on authorization for new HIV/AIDS medication. It was also hoped that Tsai would help raise funds within the nation and help promote the development of the biotech industry, Chen Chi-mai said.
It was to help the development of the biotech industry that Tsai agreed to become chairperson and she also helped out with fundraising for the company, Chen Chi-mai said, adding that it was only then that the Executive Yuan agreed to invest the remaining 40 percent of the funding through the fund.
“The KMT’s allegations that Tsai received NT$100 million for selling her shares is completely untrue,” Chen said.
He further questioned why the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) invested NT$137 million in TaiMed Biologics Co last year if the company was “shady.” After investing NT$400 million in the company, the government made a profit of NT$1 billion.
DPP caucus whip Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said he suspected the KMT caucus arranged for the Economics Committee to raise the issue of the TaiMed Biologics Co investment to undermine Tsai’s campaign efforts.
In response, KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said that no one could tell whether the fund’s investment in TaiMed Biologics Co was practical, adding the KMT sought only insight into the issue by making the data more transparent and available to the public.
“The DPP’s criticism that this is slander only goes to show it has skeletons in its closet,” Lin said.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
‘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
‘COMING MENACINGLY’: The CDC advised wearing a mask when visiting hospitals or long-term care centers, on public transportation and in crowded indoor venues Hospital visits for COVID-19 last week increased by 113 percent to 41,402, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, as it encouraged people to wear a mask in three public settings to prevent infection. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said weekly hospital visits for COVID-19 have been increasing for seven consecutive weeks, and 102 severe COVID-19 cases and 19 deaths were confirmed last week, both the highest weekly numbers this year. CDC physician Lee Tsung-han (李宗翰) said the youngest person hospitalized due to the disease this year was reported last week, a one-month-old baby, who does not
RSS