Former vice president of Zanadau Development Corp Su Hui-chen (蘇惠珍) yesterday accused China Development Financial Holding Corp Chairman Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) and his friend Li Ming-che (李明哲) of accepting kickbacks.
Su, who once served as a Kao-hsiung county councilor, made the accusations at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan called by DPP Legislator Liang Mu-yang (梁牧養).
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Su that she paid Li a NT$75 million commission to obtain a NT$5 billion syndicated loan arranged by Liu's China Development Bank, an investment bank now under the holding company.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Su said that Liu and Li had originally asked for a NT$1.15 billion kickback. She said that she transferred NT$75 million to an account of Li's and she is not certain whether Li shared the money with Liu.
The loan was taken out to finance the development of Zan-adau's 11.66 hectare Tahu Com-mercial Zone (大湖工商綜合區) pro-ject into a shopping mall.
When the company was unable to secure a loan for the project with local banks because of Su's poor credit history, she turned to Li, a politically-connected investor from central Taiwan who, like Su, was a major Zanadau share holder.
Li then introduced Su to Liu, who liked the shopping mall pro-ject and agreed to endorse the loan. But Su said there was a catch.
Su alleges that Liu told her that he would help her finance a total of NT$11.5 billion from local banks, but only if he and Li received a 10 percent commission on the total amount of financing.
"I made the first transaction of NT$15 million to Li's account on March 30, 1998. Afterwards, I made another few transactions and the total amount I paid was NT$75 million," Su said.
"Li told me that Liu [knew of] the transactions but I had no idea whether he was telling the truth or not," she said.
Su said that she kept all the records of every transaction and will make them public if necessary.
Yesterday Liu dismissed Su's accusations against him and said he would be willing to discuss the matter Su and Li in public to prove his innocence.
Liu said that the mall project had been highlighted by the government since it was to be the first wholesale shopping mall in southern Taiwan.
He said he believed it was a good idea, so he promised to help but he never asked for any kickback.
He explained that Su's company had failed to get financed from the banks because of Taiwan's real estate business was going into a slowdown.
"That was not my fault," he said.
He also said that at the same time, five other companies had requested -- and secured -- his help with other projects. Su's was the only firm whose project never materialized.
"I never even asked for anything from those successful companies. Do you think it's possible that I would have done so with a company with such unhealthy finances?" he said.
Liu did not name the other companies.
"I don't know if Li accepted anything from Su, but her accusation has seriously damaged my reputation," Liu said.
Li declined all interview requests yesterday, but said that he will soon respond in public to Su's accusations.
Liu said that he had spoken with Li by telephone and was told that Li would hold a news conference in the next few days to clarify his position and to prove Liu's innocence.
Asked if he would file a suit against Su for damaging his credibility, Liu said, "I won't do that because I'm a man of mercy."
See story and editorial:
Wong denies Su's Zanadau allegations
Editorial: Financial regulations need teeth
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