The legislature*s Transportation Committee passed a resolution yesterday requiring the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to brief the committee if any of its investments fail to meet an estimated rate of return of at least 10 percent.
The resolution was passed while the committee was reviewing a report on direct investments made by subsidiary divisions and state-owned corporations under the ministry, including Chunghwa Telecom, Yangming Group, Chung〝hwa Post Co, Asia-Pacific Telecom and five others.
Among some of the investments mentioned in the report, Chung〝hwa Post lost approximately NT$590 million (US$18.2 million) in a bond investment issued by Lehman Brothers last month.
The Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) owns approximately 12 percent of shares in Asia Pacific Telecom. As of August, the TRA had lost about NT$647 million in the investment.
The performance of subsidiary firms created by Chunghwa Telecom fell short of expectations. The telecom company has invested a total of NT$10.7 billion into these firms, but they have only generated an aggregate profit of about NT$500 million.
Lawmakers, however, have largely focused on the TRA*s investment in Asia-Pacific Telecom.
The TRA became the telecom company*s largest shareholder after the latter encountered a financial crisis.
The telecom company has been leasing TRA*s optical fiber cable duct since 2000. The lease dictated that the Asia Pacific Telecom use the duct for 25 years.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said yesterday that the administration is expected to sort things out by the end of this year.
TRA Director-General Frank Fan (范植谷) said that the administration is planning to sell the shares it owns in the Asia Pacific Telecom. The lease will stay effective, he said, and TRA will only collect the monthly rent in the future.
Fan said it will retain a lawyer and an accountant to help the administration decide on all the complicated legal issues.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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