A Chinese branch of Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (CHB) was yesterday accused by a New Power Party (NPP) lawmaker of collaborating with property appraisal firms to take kickbacks from customers applying for credit.
Yu Chih-jen (游志仁), the assistant manager of the bank’s branch in Dongguang, Guangdong Province, accepted some of the kickbacks, New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) told a news conference at the party’s caucus office.
Shenzhen-based bicycle parts manufacturer Joy Ind (S.Z) in June last year applied for a credit line of 30 million yuan (US$4.67 million at the current exchange rate) with CHB’s Dongguang branch, he said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Joy Ind hired two companies to appraise its real estate holdings and the bank approved a credit line based on the appraisal report, provided by Golden Ruler, that had a higher estimated value, he said.
Two months later, Golden Ruler received an appraisal fee of 68,000 yuan from Joy Ind, and gave 60 percent of it to Yu, plus 10 percent of the remaining 40 percent, he said.
Video footage shown by Huang at the news conference shows a Golden Ruler staff member meeting with Yu at the branch office on Aug. 18 to hand over the money.
In the footage, Yu counts out the money and complains that Golden Ruler pays late “every time.”
“When you owe me money, I have to use my own. The money is for my boss,” he is heard saying in the video.
In November, the bank branch issued a standby letter of credit for and CHB’s Fongyuan branch in Taichung approved a loan to Joytech, which is Joy Ind’s parent company in Taichung.
CHB executive vice president Carol Sun (孫慧蘭) and chairman Chang Ming-daw (張明道) have known about the kickbacks for a long time, but did nothing to stop it, Huang said.
“Yu was not investigated nor suspended after taking the kickback, but instead promoted to head CWB’s new branch in Nanjing, China,” he said.
“This is not an isolated case,” Huang said, adding that similar misconduct is still occurring.
CWB is a state-owned bank, so “what does this tell us about the discipline of the nation’s state-owned banks?” he said.
However, National Treasury Administration Director-General Frank Juan (阮清華), who is on the CHB board of directors, said such activity would not be tolerated at state-owned banks.
“As a CHB director, I will see to it that the matter is thoroughly investigated and that appropriate measures are taken,” he said.
CHB president James Shih (施建安) also promised to investigate.
“We will launch an investigation and hold staff accountable for any misconduct,” he said, adding that he was shocked and saddened by the allegations.
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