Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and five other people were yesterday indicted on charges of breach of trust and contravening securities regulations in connection with the sale of three media companies owned by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
In announcing the indictment, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office detailed the results of its investigation and reasons for the charges against three principal figures — Ma; Wang Hai-ching (汪海清), former general manager of the KMT-controlled Central Investment Co (中央投資公司); and Chang Che-chen (張哲琛), the company’s former chairman.
Aside from contravening the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), “the three defendants also displayed disdain for the law and did not cooperate with the investigation. Prosecutors will therefore ask the court to impose the maximum sentence,” Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor Chou Shih-yu (周士榆) said.
Photo: CNA
Former KMT legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元), his wife, Queena Hung (洪菱霙), and her father, Hung Hsin-hsing (洪信行), were also charged with embezzlement, breach of trust, money laundering, contravening the Business Entity Accounting Act (商業會計法) and other offenses.
The case dates to Ma’s first term as KMT chairman from 2005 to 2007, when the party disposed of three key assets — Central Motion Picture Corp (CMPC, 中影), China Television Co (CTV, 中視) and Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC, 中廣).
Prosecutors and judicial officials have diligently worked for 12 years to investigate allegations of illegal profiteering in the sale of the three media firms, Chou said.
“Through the investigation, we have gathered sufficient evidence to build a solid case of illegal activities and breaches of the law by the defendants,” Chou said, citing as key evidence audio recording of meetings presided over by then-KMT chairman Ma, along with internal documents and other materials provided by witnesses and people connected to the case.
The formal indictments were based on new evidence collected in the past year and testimonies corroborated by witnesses, Chou said.
With Ma giving the instructions and approving the sale of the three companies below their market value, Central Investment incurred a loss of NT$3.849 billion (US$126.6 million at the current exchange rate) as a result, the indictment read.
Central Investment lost NT$1.8 billion from the sale of CMPC, NT$494.3 million from CTV and NT$1.553 billion from BCC, it said.
In addition, Ma, Wang and Chang presided over the disposal of the KMT’s old headquarters on Taipei’s Bade Road, which resulted in a loss of NT$597.13 million, prosecutors said.
The sale of BCC and its land to New Party founder Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) led to further losses of NT$2.845 billion, they said.
Chou released an audio recording of Ma presiding over the meetings, where a voice that sounded like Ma’s was heard directing the discussion and instructing party officials about the transaction process.
In one of the recordings Ma is heard speaking to Wang about the sale of CTV to its eventual buyer, Albert Yu (余建新), former chairman of the China Times Group (中時集團), before the group was purchased by Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團) chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) in 2008.
In the recording, Ma tells Wang to acquiesce to Yu’s demands about the financial terms and instructs him to refrain from actions that would “jeopardize the deal.”
Prosecutors said that Ma, Wang and Chang failed to uphold the trust given to them, breached accounting regulations and employed untoward business practices that resulted in losses for Central Investment and other KMT-controlled companies.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,