Government officials yesterday clarified accounts following a media report that said the state-owned Taiwan Post Co was asked by the government to deposit NT$10 billion (US$324 million) in a bank affiliated with a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker.
The latest issue of Next magazine published yesterday reported that Vice Premier Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) demanded Taiwan Post deposit NT$10 billion in Sunny Bank (陽信銀行), one day after DPP Legislator Hsueh Ling (薛凌) and her husband Chen Shen-hung (陳勝宏) were charged with involvement in a loan scandal at the bank last year.
Chen, a former DPP lawmaker, is chairman of the bank.
PHOTO: CNA
The report said Taiwan Post deposited NT$37 billion in some questionable banks, NT$10 billion of which was deposited in Sunny Bank. The bank has only returned NT$6.5 billion after Chiou had Taiwan Post defer payment four times.
clarification
Executive Yuan spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (
"It's wrong to accuse the government of aiding Sunny Bank. The government will work out a plan for Sunny Bank to repay the loan interest and principal with the bank. The allegation of the report was unfair to the bank and to the government," Shieh said.
"When a bank is having a financial crisis, the government has the obligation to step in to keep depositors of the banks from suffering losses," he said.
When approached by reporters outside the Executive Yuan, Chiou also dismissed the allegation made by the report that he embezzled the Taiwan Post fund to aid Hsueh.
Earlier yesterday at a press conference, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) called the postal company's decision into question, saying that Sunny Bank's credibility had been sabotaged after suffering from an alleged embezzlement scandal last year, in which Hsueh and Chen were charged with seeking illegal loans with fake documents from the Sunny Bank.
Lin questioned postal company president Wu Min-yu (吳民佑), who attended the conference, over whether DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) had received the money as a campaign contribution.
In response, Wu confirmed the magazine's report, but denied that Chiou was responsible for the company making the deposit.
He said the postal company did not take the initiative to put the money in Sunny Bank until officials from the company participated in a meeting presided over by the Banking Bureau, under the Financial Supervisory Commission, and the Central Deposit Insurance Co.
tight-lipped
Meeting participants prompted the decision to have the Taiwan Post Co store the money in Sunny Bank in a bid to "maintain overall financial order," Wu said. He remained tight-lipped, however, when asked by KMT legislators regarding details of the meeting.
At a separate setting yesterday, Ministry of Transportation and Communications Vice Minister Ho Nuan-hsuen (
Taiwan Post currently keeps part of the postal fund at 34 state-run and private banks. The postal fund has topped NT$4 trillion, but only NT$722.5 billion are saved in these banks, he said.
Ho said that the Sunny Bank has a rating of AAA- and is rated B by the post office itself. The amount saved in Sunny Bank is approximately NT$9.5 billion.
In addition to Sunny, Ho said that the Taiwan Post also has savings in the Chinese Bank (中華商業銀行), Bowa Bank (寶華銀行), Asia Trust (亞洲信託) and other banks.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
The Taipei District Court today ruled to extend the incommunicado detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) for two more months as part of an ongoing corruption trial. Codefendants in the case — real-estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Ko's former mayoral office head Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) — were granted bail of NT$100 million (US$3.4 million) and NT$20 million respectively. Sheen and Lee would also be barred from leaving the country for eight months and prohibited from contact with, harassing, threatening or inquiring after the case with codefendants or witnesses. The two would also be
RSS