Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) yesterday dismissed an accusation by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Mark Chen (陳唐山) that he leaked a petition, after Chen said he received a protest letter from the involved party after the petition was handed to Mao.
The Chinese-language Next Magazine reported in yesterday’s edition that Chen accused Mao of acting as Far Eastern Group’s protector after a petition against the group that he had sent to Mao via Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) was believed to have been leaked to Pacific Sogo Department Stores Co, which is under the control of Far Eastern Group.
According to the report, Chen and DPP Legislator Su Chen-ching (蘇震清) received express mail on April 1 from Pacific Sogo Department Stores Co, after Chen on March 31 asked Wang to forward a petition to Mao urging the Executive Yuan to abide by a High Administrative Court ruling that Pacific Sogo’s capital-raising registration be reduced back to NT$10 million (US$319,200) from NT$4.01 billion.
Chen said that he planned to question Mao about the petition during a question-and-answer session on the legislative floor on March 31, but was not able to do so because Taiwan Solidarity Union lawmakers occupied the legislative speaker’s podium during a controversy over China’s unilateral establishing of its M503 flight route.
He then handed the petition to Wang — who once mediated management disputes over the department store — for him to forward it to the premier.
In less than 24 hours, the report said, Chen’s office got an express post from the corporation asking the legislator “not to be misled to the point of violating the Legislators’ Conduct Act (立法委員行為法)” and saying that “the petitioning, influence-peddling and legislative questioning” Chen undertook for the petitioner was “illegal behavior.”
Chen brought the case onto the legislative interrogation podium on Monday, saying that he has been threatened over the leak, and holding the premier accountable.
Mao said he refused to be held responsible for something he never did.
The premier yesterday released a statement reiterating that Chen’s accusation was “baseless and relied purely on speculation,” as he had turned the case to the legal affairs officials for examination right after he received the petition from Chen.
Regarding the case that was petitioned, the Executive Yuan said its legal department concluded that as the Supreme Administrative Court had made its ruling in 2013 and the criminal judgement for two defendants has not been delivered, there is no room for administrative departments to intervene.
The dispute over the holdings of the Pacific Sogo has dragged on for more than a decade.
Lee Heng-lung (李恆隆), the chairman of Pacific Distribution Investment Co, the holding company that owns Pacific Sogo Department Stores Co, has been fighting to reduce the latter’s capital to crowd out the Far Eastern Group as a shareholder, whose raising of the capital was alleged by Lee to be based on forged documents.
The Far Eastern Group has been embroiled in a series of controversies in the recent years, such as Far Eastern Electronic Toll Collection Co’s breach of contract and exempted penalties, its poor arrangements for laid-off toll collectors and the recent accident during the construction of the Taichung MRT, the general contractor of which is Far Eastern Construction Co.
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