FSC approves official's resignation

The Financial Supervisory Com-mission (FSC) yesterday approved Lee Chin-chen's (李進誠) resignation from his post as a counselor, after he was indicted on Tuesday for alleged involvement in an illegal "vulture" investors group.

Lee decided to resign to minimize damage to the commission after the indictment, and to prepare to defend his innocence with all his might in the upcoming trial, the commission's spokesman Lin Chung-cheng (林忠正) told a press conference yesterday.

Lee was originally head of the FSC's Examination Bureau, but was transferred after coming under fire for allegedly being involved in insider trading.

Prior to approving Lee's resignation, the FSC had announced that he would be suspended from duty. The FSC said inappropriate behavior -- including meeting and partying with Lin Ming-da (林明達), a suspect in the illegal trading of Power Quotient shares, in improper places such as hostess bars -- had led to a dereliction of duty and met the requirements for suspension.

According to Article 2 of the Law on Discipline of Civil Servants (公務人員懲戒法), public employees who are derelict in their duty face punishments including being removed from their post or suspension of duties.

The decision to suspend Lee marked a reversal of the commission's stance the day before, and came amid mounting public criticism.

The day before, the commission had said it would not suspend Lee until he was found guilty by the courts.

The commission will use high moral standards to evaluate the qualification of candidates for the post of director-general of the commission's Examination Bureau in the future, Lin said.

He did not elaborate on whether the regulator had found a suitable successor.

Earlier yesterday, two Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers requested the resignation of FSC Chairman Kong Jaw-sheng (龔照勝), because he had hired Lee.

DPP Legislator Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) called for Kong's immediate resignation, saying that he had made a bad decision in hiring Lee and had done a poor job overseeing Lee's performance.

Wang threatened to launch a signature drive to request Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) to fire Kong if Kong refused to take the initiative to step down.

DPP Legislator Charles Chiang (江昭儀) yesterday expressed the same opinion and asked both Kong and Lu to step down.

Chiang also questioned Lee's qualifications for his former job, alleging that he had acquired the position because of a "powerful individual."

The premier said yesterday he did not possess the authorization to relieve Lee of his post but he would ask Lee's supervisor to make proper "arrangements" as soon as possible.

"Lee is a government official who was hired after he passed the national exam so the premier is not authorized to relieve him. But, his [Lee's] supervisor at the FSC can reshuffle and transfer or suspend him from his job," said Government Information Office Minister Pasuya Yao (姚文智), who relayed Hsieh's remarks to the media at a press briefing after the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday morning.

Additional reporting by Jimmy Chuang