The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office Special Investigation Division’s (SID) investigation into files relating to Yu Chang Biologics Co (宇昌生技股份有限公司), now known as TaiMed Biologics Co (中裕新藥股份有限公司), allegedly involving Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), could influence elections because of the political sensitivity of the issue, legal experts said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers accuse Tsai of manipulating the National Development Fund’s (NDF) investments in TaiMed when she was vice premier in 2007. She served as the chairperson of the biotech company several months after she stepped down from her post in May 2007.
While the DPP has accused the KMT of using the case to smear Tsai and undermine her chances of winning the presidential election, Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Christina Liu (劉憶如) on Wednesday said that the SID had a day earlier retrieved documents relating to the Yu Chang Biologics case.
According to Liu, the SID also took paperwork relating to two other companies — Taiwan Biopharmaceuticals Co (南華生技), which applied for NDF funding in 2005-2007, and TaiMed Biotech Fund (台懋生技創投), which applied for NDF funding in 2007-2008 — that the prosecution said could have links to the Yu Chang deal.
Taiwan Biopharmaceuticals Co was to be a pharmaceutical company founded in Taiwan by Tanox — a US-based biopharmaceutical company — chairperson Nancy Chang (唐南珊) and then-Euroc Venture Capital Co chairman Kao Yu-jen (高育仁) for the research and development of the TNX-355 drug.
TNX-355 is an anti-AIDS drug that may prevent HIV from breaching the immune system.
Officials familiar with the SID operation said the main point of the investigation was to clarify why the NDF refused Taiwan Biopharmaceuticals’ TNX-355 funding request, but provided funding to Yu Chang, which was importing and developing a similar drug from the US drug giant Genentech and later acquired Tanox in 2007.
The officials said another factor that raised suspicion was TaiMed Biotech Fund holding three seats on the board of directorate, while in terms of funding, TaiMed only invested NT$70 million (US$2.3 million), while Mega Bank invested NT$300 million, E.Sun Fund and China Synthetic Rubber Co both invested NT$200 million and Yi Tai Fund Co (宜泰投資股份有限公司) invested NT$330 million.
Officials asked how TaiMed received three seats while investing the least amount of money, adding that the SID aimed to clarify whether the TaiMed Biotech Fund’s application was eligible under the Biotech and New Pharmaceutical Development Statute (生技新藥產業發展條例), why the NDF approved an investment of NT$875 million in TaiMed Biotech Fund and whether the funding process of the NDF’s investment in Yu Chan was legal.
The SIP said yesterday it would handle the case strictly according to the law.
“We are colorless, neither blue nor green,” SIP spokesman Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達) said in response to press queries on the SIP’s move on Tuesday.
“Seizing the relevant files is necessary to collect all the evidence, prevent it from being destroyed or forged, and allow the truth to be discovered later,” Chen said, but stopped short of saying the SIP has officially launched a probe into the case.
Both the KMT and DPP have exchanged rhetorical fire over the issue, which has flared up just one month before the Jan. 14 presidential election.
Commenting on the case, former Taipei District Court Judge Wu Meng-liang (吳孟良) said that since the SIP’s decision to seize the documents has been reported by media and hence made known to the public, even if the documents were only taken to safeguard them, this could still impact on voters, especially those who are neutral.
Lawyer Hsu Wen-pin (許文彬) said an SIP investigation into a politically sensitive case, especially one that concerned a presidential candidates, should be like “a swimming duck” — quiet and serene on the surface, while working hard unseen, and not publicizing any aspect of the investigation.
“Otherwise, it would be hard [for the public] not to suspect the judiciary system is intervening in the elections,” Hsu said.
Former Executive Yuan administer without portfolio Hsu Chih-hsiung (許志雄), said he found the timing of the SID’s move suspicious.
He said the Yu Chang case did not just happen today, adding that investigations by prosecution units would not normally make such large movements in the run-up to elections.
“Does the SIP have to be so hasty? One can’t help but find it suspicious,” he said.
The SIP is directed by Prosecutor-General Huang Shyh-ming (黃世銘), said Hsu, adding that since Huang was once a politically-appointed deputy minister of justice, “whether the prosecution units would have any independence during the investigation also comes under question.”
Additional reporting by Lin Chun-hung, Chen Mei-ying and CNA
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS