Embattled Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey (翁啟惠) yesterday asked President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) for a 28-day leave of absence, but his request was turned down.
Wong said he made the request in deference to judicial authorities investigating his role in the controversy over his daughter’s OBI Pharma shareholdings.
Wong is suspected of insider trading and corruption.
While the investigation is ongoing, “my absence from the job as head of the institute will facilitate its effective operations,” Wong said, recommending that Academia Sinica Vice President Wang Fan-sen (王汎森) take over during his leave of absence.
Ma turned down Wong’s request because he is scheduled to report to the legislature today.
“Approving your request for leave will bring up suspicions of trying to evade legislative oversight,” Ma was quoted by his spokesman as saying. “It is extremely inappropriate to ask for a long period of leave at this point in time.”
On Thursday last week, Wong was listed as a possible defendant and barred from leaving the country by prosecutors investigating insider trading allegations involving OBI Pharma.
Wong faces charges of corruption and breach of trust after being questioned that day by prosecutors along with 10 others, including OBI Pharma chairman Michael Chang (張念慈), another possible defendant in the case.
During a meeting with Ma on Monday, Wong expressed hope that he could be replaced within two weeks, an Academia Sinica spokesman said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
RSS