New Power Party Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday said that former Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) chairman Lee Ruey-tsang (李瑞倉) colluded with Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co to help the shipbuilder skirt its obligations to creditors.
When in office, Lee pressured First Commercial Bank — Ching Fu’s chief creditor — to alter the shipbuilder’s credit conditions, Huang told a news conference in Taipei.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office should open an investigation of Lee and other FSC officials for possible malfeasance “with the greatest possible urgency,” he said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Lee denied the allegations.
According to the original credit conditions, Ching Fu should have deposited into an escrow account 20 percent, or NT$3.4 billion (US$113 million), of the NT$15.4 billion it has received from a NT$20.5 billion syndicated loan from First Commercial Bank and other state-owned lenders, Huang said.
However, Ching Fu’s escrow account holds only NT$2.91 billion, which is NT$550 million less than the stipulated amount, he said.
Ching Fu was able to withdraw NT$550 million from the escrow account because the First Commercial Bank-headed consortium in January altered the conditions, Huang said.
After reviewing FSC documents, Huang said he discovered that Lee, FSC Deputy Director of Banking Sherri Chuang (莊秀媛) and other high-ranking officials on Jan. 3 met with Ching Fu executives, including Ching Fu deputy chairman Chen Wei-chih (陳偉志).
During the meeting, Chen Wei-chih told the FSC that the military had delayed a payment to Ching Fu, resulting in a NT$2.7 billion liquidity shortage for the shipbuilder, Huang cited the meeting transcript as saying.
After Chen Wei-chih asked the FSC to alleviate its problems by convincing the banking consortium to change the conditions on the loan, the FSC promised to liaise with First Commercial Bank about the issue, Huang said.
Shortly after the meeting, the consortium altered Ching Fu’s contractual obligations from having NT$3.4 billion of escrow in hand at the letter of credit’s issuance to having that amount at the letter’s presentation, Huang said.
The FSC’s alleged lobbying was inappropriate and possibly criminal, and the NT$550 million might well become bad debt, Huang said.
Lee rejected Huang’s accusations, saying that the lawmaker had omitted to show the second page of the two-page transcript.
Huang “deliberately took my comments out of context,” Lee said.
The FSC had to meet with Ching Fu’s representatives after the company complained that red tape was obstructing the government’s vessel renewal program, but the FSC did not lobby the consortium for the shipbuilder, Lee said.
“I told them on the spot that the FSC cannot and will not intervene and that they should speak to the banks themselves,” Lee said, adding that his refusal to have anything to do with the issue is a matter of record and can be found in the full transcript.
First Commercial Bank was informed of the incident as a matter of routine, but he explicitly told the commission that it need not discuss the issue with the bank, Lee said.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) today released images of the military tracking China’s People's Liberation Army (PLA) movements during the latest round of Chinese drills around Taiwan. The PLA began "Justice Mission 2025" drills today, carrying out live-fire drills, simulated strikes on land and maritime targets, and exercises to blockade the nation's main ports. The exercises are to continue tomorrow, with the PLA announcing sea and air space restrictions for five zones around Taiwan for 10 hours starting from 8:30am. The ministry today released images showing a Chinese J-16 fighter jet tracked by a F-16V Block 20 jet and the
City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
RSS