The National Development Fund (NDF) did not have three board members and one supervisor at Yu Chang Biologics Co (宇昌生技股份有限公司) when Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was company chairperson, contradicting claims made by the DPP, Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Christina Liu (劉憶如) said yesterday after releasing four documents related to the formation of the company.
“These documents prove that the seats obtained by the NDF did not reflect its share of investment in Yu Chang and they confirm that the DPP’s claims are wrong,” Liu, who is the current convener of the fund, told a press conference.
On Friday, Liu said the fund, which held a 40 percent stake in Yu Chang — now known as TaiMed Biologics Inc (中裕新藥股份有限公司) — only obtained one seat as a board member in addition to one non-voting supervisor position — Academia Sinica president Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) and then-Council for Economic Planning and Development chairperson Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) — following the company’s first shareholder meeting. The meeting was chaired by Tsai on Sept. 3, 2007.
However, based on a plan made on Aug. 31, 2007, the fund should have had three seats on the company’s eight-seat board Liu said.
DPP spokesperson Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said on Saturday that from the time the company was created, the fund had always held three director spots and one supervisor position.
The DPP then filed a lawsuit against Liu, saying she was spreading rumors and false statements for the purpose of either getting a candidate elected or impeding another’s election chances. It was the second lawsuit the party has filed against Liu over the Yu Chang case.
However, Liu said the documents released yesterday confirmed that the question she raised on Friday was legitimate and that the DPP had provided “incorrect” information to the public.
“The DPP should admit that its lawsuit against me is malicious,” Liu said.
Liu said, following a request by the fund, scientists David Ho (何大一) and Chen Lan-bo (陳良博) were elected as the fund’s representatives on the Yu Chang board on Sep. 29, 2007, but that Ho eventually resigned his seat, bringing the number of board members from the fund to less than four.
“Why did the NDF give up its own rights in the Yu Chang case?” she asked.
Liu said she would keep raising questions about the case until Tsai and the DPP properly answer the ones she has already asked.
In response, Tsai’s campaign spokesperson Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said that while Liu had submitted “new questions,” there was no substantial context to them.
“We don’t think it is necessary to respond to her questions again since we have detailed our explanation to all the questions she has posed,” Hsu said.
Three board members and a supervisor were allocated to represent the fund, Hsu said, but Chen and Ho — who are US citizens — were not officially on the board until they finalized the necessary paperwork in October 2007.
Tsai, who was on a campaign trip in the south yesterday, said in Pingtung County that Liu’s comments and behavior have been “a little bit out of control and unreasonable.”
“The entire process of the formation of Yu Chang is transparent and well-documented and all the related information can be found in the government archives,” Tsai said
“Minister Liu also said she did not think it was a scandal, but now she is coming up with all these questions … I do think President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) owes the public an apology when a government official sets a bad example by crossing the line of neutrality and failing to recognize his or her duty,” Tsai added.
On Liu’s questioning of her qualifications as chairperson of a biotechnology company, saying she could not be compared with Morris Chang (張忠謀) in the semiconductor industry or Steve Chan (詹啟賢) in the biotech industry, Tsai said she joined the company to try to help contribute to a strategically important industry and never saw herself as having the same status as Morris Chang.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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