Watchout, an Internet media outlet established by a group of young people that calls for government and legislative transparency and which became popular after the Sunflower movement, said it has dismissed chief executive Liulin Wei (柳林瑋) for “committing major mistakes in financial management.”
The company released a statement early yesterday announcing that Liulin, a former National Taiwan University Hospital physician who has been active in the Sunflower movement and other activities, was discharged and would no longer represent the company.
“Liulin has been found and confirmed to have made serious mistakes in financial management during his time in office. The company has dealt with it and made necessary corrections immediately,” it said.
The company said that it would examine and improve its internal control and management of money and its monitoring mechanism.
It would also have its accounting firm perform an audit.
A fundraising plan for a legislative oversight program that the media firm posted on crowdsourcing Web site FlyingV in June last year and subsequent spending on the program “will be made public as promised and in accordance with the principle of openness and transparency after the program completes with the end of the eighth legislature in January [next year],” it said.
At the same time, Liulin posted a statement on Facebook — in words no different from those used by Watchout — acknowledging that he made major mistakes in financial management as the company’s representative and chief executive.
He also announced his immediate resignation.
Netizens urged the company to reveal the truth, “rather than trying to cover up the facts — as the [President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)] administration does — and ruining our support.”
Prominent Sunflower movement leader Wang Yi-kai (王奕凱) called on the company to “explain openly in detail when it comes to money, or it would destroy the confidence of the small donors who have been the mainstay supporters of the social movement.”
Citizen 1985, an activist group that launched demonstrations against mistreatment of soldiers by the military and against the death of army corporal Hung Chung-chiu (洪仲丘), also said early yesterday that it has temporarily deactivated Liulin’s title as one of the group’s founding members due to “monetary issues.”
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