Print

Mail

wiki links

CLA official gets surprise gift when stepping down

A senior labor official responsible for managing the nation's labor insurance funds discovered his bank account had suddenly swollen by NT$391 million (US$12 million) on Tuesday night, right after he stepped down as president of the Bureau of Labor Insurance under the Council of Labor Affairs (CLA).

A bemused but somewhat frustrated Shih Che (史哲), together with the vice president of the Land Bank of Taiwan, Yang Chao (楊照), told the press yesterday that it was a terrible mistake caused by "computer software errors," for which the bank feverishly apologized to Shih.

Yang said the error took place not once but thrice, leading to three mis-remittances of huge funds to the personal account of the official -- NT$9 million, NT$191 million, and another NT$191 million, all term deposits that matured in January, May and June of last year.

Shih blamed some of his "muddy-headed senior officials" for causing such a huge fiasco, suspecting a power struggle might have been occurring to force him to submit his resignation, which was accepted on Tuesday.

He said he had heard rumors that were aimed at smearing his name over the past month and he simply couldn't comprehend why certain people would be questioning his personal finances and integrity.

Vice Chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) of the Financial Supervisory Commission said that after conducting an investigation, the commission would determine whether to punish anyone at the bank who may have been responsible for causing the problem.

Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the Executive Yuan demanded the CLA look into the incident and find out the details of what had happened and why.

Legislator William Lai (賴清德), Shih's comrade in the Democratic Progressive Party's New Tide faction, said Labor Affairs Minister Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) should explain why the disclosure of the incident and portrayal of the funds as Shih's undisclosed assets happened on the day he was stepping down.

Lee's predecessor, Chen Chu (陳菊), forcefully defended Shih for being a competent and ethical manager of some of the nation's largest public funds.
This story has been viewed 1638 times.