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Official accuses Cabinet of unfairness over lottery

Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) yesterday said that the Cabinet had been unfair in selecting the winner of the sports lottery license.

Taipei Fubon Bank (台北富邦銀行) beat the Bank of Kaohsiung (高雄銀行) in the competition for the contract to run the sports lottery, but Chiu claims the process was unjust.

"The reputation of a bank is very important. But, as Fubon Financial Holding Co's (富邦金控) chief investment officer is still under detention for involvement in an insider trading case, you cannot convince me that this was done fairly," Chiu said to reporters after yesterday's Cabinet meeting.

Chiu was referring to the alleged involvement of Fubon Financial Holding Co's chief investment officer Daniel Chiang (蔣國樑) in an insider trading case related to Standard Chartered Bank's acquisition of Hsinchu International Bank (新竹商銀) last year.

Chiu said that a bank's reputation is important when doing lottery-related business, and although Fubon won the bid, having top-level management involved should have disqualified the bank.

"I am not persuaded" Chiu said, "and I believe there are a lot of people out there who share the same view."

Chiu's complaint was heard by Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄), who later said that he had advised Cabinet officials to investigate whether Chiang is involved. He also said that there was a possibility that the Cabinet would re-consider the case, if officials decided that it would impact Fubon's credibility.

Meanwhile, Kaohsiung City Councilor Lin Wu-chung (林武忠) issued a written statement urging Kaohsiung City Finance Bureau Director-General Lei Chung-dar (雷仲達) to step down because of the Bank of Kaohsiung's failure to win the lottery license.

Lin, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, said urging a governmental chief to resign was a "painful decision" for a ruling party councilor, but some administrators should step down to shoulder responsibility for the failure because Kaohsiung had lost a great opportunity to benefit from the lottery.

Lin said Lei had promised during a telephone conversation that he would tender his resignation to Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊).

Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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