Legislators from several parties lashed out yesterday at first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) for gains made after her assets were put into trust, adding that President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) pledge to stay away from the stock market was a lie.
"Given that Chen announced during his re-election that his family members would not buy and sell stocks from then on, why did Wu still buy Fubon No. 1 REIT with a face value of about NT$40 million?" Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said.
Lo made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature's Finance Committee. His comments were echoed by other legislators.
According to the latest report on public officials' assets released by the Control Yuan on Tuesday, Wu had NT$48.32 million in stocks, up from the NT$8.19 million declared in a June 11, 2004 report.
Tuesday's report also showed that the first couple's savings had dropped to NT$3.31 million from the NT$42 million they declared on Nov. 7 last year.
If Wu retained the right to make decisions about her investments even after she put her stock assets into a trust, then it was not a real trust, Lo said.
"If the members of the first family were still involved in the stock market, it was no wonder that they were accused of speculating in stocks," Lo said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (
The problem, he said, was the heads of the Fubon group have been very close to the first family.
"Given that close relationship, Wu's purchase of Fubon No. 1 REIT shares would inevitably arouse suspicion about the possibility of insider trading," Fai said.
People First Party Legislator Wu ching-chih (吳清池) said he didn't understand why Wu had not stopped making stock investments.
"I thought the first family was already very rich. The president should be able to do a better job of reining in Wu's investments," Wu said.
The Presidential Office yesterday dismissed speculation that Wu was still playing the stock market, saying she used NT$40 million to purchase mutual funds, not shares.
"The first lady has not bought more stocks since putting her assets into trust in 2004," the Presidential Office's Department of Public Affairs said in a statement. "To invest in mutual funds is not against the spirit of the law, nor is it an excessive investment in stocks."
Additional reporting by Ko Shu-ling
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
RSS