Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday presented more evidence which she said showed that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was involved in the formation of Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank (台北富邦銀行) , as she demanded that prosecutors conduct a thorough investigation of the case.
Lu accused Ma of influence-peddling and illegal conduct in Fubon Bank’s (富邦銀行) takeover of Taipei Bank (台北銀行) — resulting in the formation of Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank — in 2002 when Ma was Taipei mayor.
Others have also long suspected wrongdoing, alleging that Ma directed the takeover deal when state-owned Taipei Bank was under the city government’s control to generate more than NT$30 billion (US$992.5 million at the current exchange rate) in unlawful profits that benefited the bank’s owners and himself.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The takeover deal was signed by then-Taipei Department of Finance director Lee Sush-ter (李述德), but the legal representative of the bank was Ma and Lee had no authorization to represent the city government, Lu said.
She said that according to the Company Act (公司法) and the Business Mergers and Acquisitions Act (企業併購法), when a company is being sold or taken over, the deal requires the approval of a majority of shareholders, while at least two-thirds have to attend a shareholders’ meeting.
“However, there was no shareholders’ meeting or a vote, and therefore the deal was illegal,” Lu said. “The Taipei City Government sold Taipei Bank’s 3,545 ping [11,719m2] of land and 27,000 ping [89,256m2] of commercial building floor space at lower than market valuation. So the bank’s owners acquired those assets at far below market prices.”
Lu also displayed a letter she said she received from then-Fubon Group chairman Tsai Wan-tsai (蔡萬才).
“During that period, I questioned the legality of the takeover during a media interview and called for the judiciary to conduct an investigation. Tsai was angered by my words, even though I had no particular reason to pick a fight with Fubon Group,” Lu said. “So Tsai sent me this letter, in which he questioned my understanding of the deal and said that my words were misguided. In the letter he wrote that [then-]president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) choosing me as vice president was a mistake and demanded that I withdraw from the 2004 presidential election.”
Lu said she was outraged at what Tsai had done.
“This is a very serious issue, that a business conglomerate can openly interfere in the nation’s political affairs,” she said.
Lu and some Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei city councilors said they has retained attorney George Wang (王可富) to pursue the case against Ma.
Based on his calculations, Wang said the Taipei City Government enabled the bank’s owners to reap financial benefits of about NT$37.3 million.
“We urge prosecutors to dig through the details of this case and conduct a thorough investigation, so these questionable profits can be returned to the city government,” Wang said.
“We wanted Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) to join us to help prosecute this case and retrieve the illegal profits for the city’s residents, but he did not see fit to meet with us and that is why we sought help from Lu,” he said.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
Taiwan’s armed forces have established response protocols for a wide range of sudden contingencies, including the “Wan Chun Plan” to protect the head of state, the Ministry of Defense (MND) said today. After US President Donald Trump on Saturday launched a series of airstrikes in Venezuela and kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, concerns have been raised as to whether China would launch a similar “decapitation strike” on Taiwan. The armed forces regularly coordinate with relevant agencies and practice drills to ensure preparedness for a wide range of scenarios, Vice Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) told reporters before a
RSS