The government should not have let the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) lead an administrative investigation into Mega International Commercial Bank’s violation of US rules against money laundering, New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said.
People have been mostly concerned with the suspected money-laundering activities, which have been put under judicial investigation, Huang said in a radio interview yesterday.
However, “as a lawmaker I am more concerned about the administrative negligence and the question of who will foot the bill for the US$180 million fine levied on Mega Bank,” he added.
The incident “has made us highly suspicious of internal controls at the bank and the role of the FSC, because we know now, despite the FSC’s initial claims of innocence when the incident was first reported, that the bank’s Australian branch made similar violations in 2009, and its two branches in Panama were fined in 2010 and 2012 for flaunting Panama’s regulations against money laundering,” Huang said.
That the branches in Panama were fined was reported to the bank’s board of directors and to the FSC, Huang said.
“I wonder whether it was the top echelons at the bank and FSC who failed to regard the matter as something of importance,” he said.
Huang said he has been “deeply disappointed” by the moves made by the Ministry of Finance and the FSC so far.
“Besides Mega Financial Holding Co chairman Shiu Kuang-si (徐光曦) being allowed to investigate misconduct at his bank, I have also found it ridiculous that the administrative investigation is led by the FSC, an agency that is likely to be found guilty of administrative negligence” over past violations, he said.
“This makes us doubt the determination of the Executive Yuan to carry out a full investigation of the incident and question whether it only wants to have those involved to continue their mutual cover-ups,” Huang said.
Regarding the question of who will pay the fines, the lawmaker said he “almost passed out” when he heard Deputy Minister of Finance Su Jain-rong (蘇建榮) say on Monday that there is no plan on the ministry’s part to take legal action against former Mega Financial chairman Mckinney Tsai (蔡友才).
“It is now clear that there was negligence on the bank’s part and Tsai had been the chairman the whole time when the misconduct took place, while Shiu was the general manager. In terms of protecting creditors’ rights, I do not think small shareholders and taxpayers would be happy to see that they are the ones who will cover the fine,” Huang said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost