Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) yesterday apologized for the upheaval caused by a controversy over OBI Pharma Inc shares, but denied allegations that he was involved in insider trading.
“I am extremely sorry for disrupting the Legislative Yuan’s operation,” Wong said in his first report to the Legislative Yuan since the scandal erupted. “I have no intention of breaking any regulations, although my handling [of OBI Pharma shares] might be flawed and caused a misunderstanding, for which I apologize.’
“However, I did not engage in insider trading or stock price manipulation,” Wong said during a question-and-answer session at the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
“I should have disclosed my daughter’s holdings in OBI Pharma as well as my business relationship with the company before I made a statement on the results of clinical trials [of the company’s new cancer drug]. That was negligent on my part,” Wong said.
The controversy was sparked by Wong’s endorsement of the drug despite discouraging clinical trial results, which OBI Pharma announced on Feb. 21. It was followed by revelations that Wong’s daughter is a major shareholder of the company and that he, on behalf of his daughter, sold 10,000 shares on Feb. 18.
Wong’s research in the field of glycoscience is behind OBI Pharma’s cancer drug development.
Wong’s action sparked accusations of insider trading, share price manipulation and conflict of interest. He tendered his resignation to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on March 29 when he was in the US, citing health reasons. Ma did not accept his resignation and Wong returned to Taiwan on Friday.
Wong explained his delayed return, saying he was in poor health and could not undertake long-distance travel. He said he tendered his resignation because he thought his absence from a previous legislative meeting was disrespectful to the legislature.
However, he said he would stay on as Academia Sinica president until his term expires in October, and that he would deal with the scandal in the sincerest manner.
Responding to Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Rosalia Wu’s (吳思瑤) question on whether he used his daughter’s name on a dummy account, Wong said he did not benefit from the account’s transactions, and his daughter’s shareholdings do not run counter to Academia Sinica’s protocols on conflict of interest, as the shares were acquired before a key technology transfer between the research institute and the company.
He said he sold the shares on the advice of a broker, and that the sale was a purely financial decision although the timing was sensitive.
He added that the transaction was made before he knew the outcome of the clinical trials.
The 3 million OBI Pharma shares that his daughter acquired in 2012 were purchased with the money Wong gifted her — and not by others — he said, promising not to make any further transactions on his daughter’s behalf.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) questioned whether Wong holds OBI Pharma shares under other people’s names, besides her daughter’s.
Wong said it was possible.
He said that there were money transfers between him and OBI Pharma chairman Michael Chang (張念慈), and the money was to be used for investment and financial assistance. However, he did not know whether the investment included purchasing OBI Pharma shares.
He said he hoped the controversy does not damage Academia Sinica’s reputation or the public’s faith in the nation’s biotechnology industry.
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