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KMT’s Hsu rebuts claims of dirty deal

Global Investment Holdings president Hsu Li-teh (徐立德), a former premier and an influential figure in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), yesterday confirmed that the company had bought the Pudong branch of Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai, China, but denied the KMT had been involved in the deal.

Hsu made the remarks when approached by reporters after an event held at the Sun Yun Suan Foundation in Taipei yesterday.

Global Investment Holdings last year bought 59 percent of the hospital’s shares for 47.5 million yuan (US$6.9 million), Hsu said, brushing off reports that the price was as high as NT$5 billion (US$149 million), a figure he said was “far off.”

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have accused the KMT of partially financing the deal with its stolen assets and claim the KMT wants to see the hospital’s medical services for Taiwanese businessmen be included in the country’s National Health Insurance system.

Including hospitals in China would drag down the nation’s already suffering health insurance system because of the difficulties that could arise in detecting fraud, DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said.

Exaggerated prices and false sales invoices are potential problems, Kuan said.

Hsu said the purchase was a “medical investment” made by Global Investment Holdings and “should not be politicized.”

“We [the investment company] were targeting the medical market in mainland China and wished to take care of the needs of Taiwanese businessmen,” Hsu said.

The hospital, which is affiliated with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University of Medicine, will be renamed “Ruitong Hospital” and be turned into a Taiwanese-owned institution.

Hsu, a long-term aid to former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰), yesterday rebutted reports that Lien would cut the ribbon at the hospital’s opening ceremony on Dec. 15.

Although Hsu said the KMT was not involved in the hospital deal, Kuang-hua Holdings (光華投資), a KMT-owned company, controls 9.88 percent of Global Investment Holdings, whose biggest shareholder is Singapore’s Waytex Group, with a 21.6 percent stake.

Hsu and another executive of Global Investment Holdings, Chang Bang-chang (張邦昌), are involved in the management of several KMT-owned business.
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