Premier Su enjoys busy first morning in his new office

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) had a busy first morning in the job yesterday with a meeting to discuss two breaking scandals, one at the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and another at the Coast Guard Administration (CGA), but in the end was satisfied with the way the departments handled them.

According to Government Information Office Minister Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦), the first thing the new premier did after arriving at work yesterday morning was to call a meeting with Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Secretary-General Liu Yu-shan (劉玉山) and Cheng himself to discuss news coverage about the MOF and the CGA scandals.

The MOF scandal involved allegations that the Kaohsiung Customs Office had taken bribes during the bidding process for a patrol vessel maintenance project.

The other case in question concerned a CGA colonel, who was alleged to have been involved in a drink driving case and used a Coast Guard private as a scapegoat.

"After learning of the two stories, we spoke to the MOF and the CGA directly and discovered that the two offices had responded and provided satisfactory explanations to the public. The premier was pleased with the way they were handled," Cheng said.

Cheng said that all Cabinet members must possess the ability to deal with different kinds of crises and accidents.

"In cases like this they do not need any instructions from their superiors. Both the MOF and the CGA did a good job," he said.

"It also means that all Cabinet members paid full attention to what the premier said during the seminar yesterday," he added.

The seminar he referred to was the "seminar for new Cabinet members" which was held on Wednesday night.

During the meeting, the premier had asked all of his Cabinet team members to react quickly and efficiently to any situations that may arise.

He also told the new Cabinet members that "anyone failing to present work of the highest-quality will be relieved of their duties immediately."