Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and five other people were yesterday indicted on charges of breach of trust and contravening securities regulations in connection with the sale of three media companies owned by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
In announcing the indictment, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office detailed the results of its investigation and reasons for the charges against three principal figures — Ma; Wang Hai-ching (汪海清), former general manager of the KMT-controlled Central Investment Co (中央投資公司); and Chang Che-chen (張哲琛), the company’s former chairman.
Aside from contravening the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法), “the three defendants also displayed disdain for the law and did not cooperate with the investigation. Prosecutors will therefore ask the court to impose the maximum sentence,” Taipei Deputy Chief Prosecutor Chou Shih-yu (周士榆) said.
Photo: CNA
Former KMT legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元), his wife, Queena Hung (洪菱霙), and her father, Hung Hsin-hsing (洪信行), were also charged with embezzlement, breach of trust, money laundering, contravening the Business Entity Accounting Act (商業會計法) and other offenses.
The case dates to Ma’s first term as KMT chairman from 2005 to 2007, when the party disposed of three key assets — Central Motion Picture Corp (CMPC, 中影), China Television Co (CTV, 中視) and Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC, 中廣).
Prosecutors and judicial officials have diligently worked for 12 years to investigate allegations of illegal profiteering in the sale of the three media firms, Chou said.
“Through the investigation, we have gathered sufficient evidence to build a solid case of illegal activities and breaches of the law by the defendants,” Chou said, citing as key evidence audio recording of meetings presided over by then-KMT chairman Ma, along with internal documents and other materials provided by witnesses and people connected to the case.
The formal indictments were based on new evidence collected in the past year and testimonies corroborated by witnesses, Chou said.
With Ma giving the instructions and approving the sale of the three companies below their market value, Central Investment incurred a loss of NT$3.849 billion (US$126.6 million at the current exchange rate) as a result, the indictment read.
Central Investment lost NT$1.8 billion from the sale of CMPC, NT$494.3 million from CTV and NT$1.553 billion from BCC, it said.
In addition, Ma, Wang and Chang presided over the disposal of the KMT’s old headquarters on Taipei’s Bade Road, which resulted in a loss of NT$597.13 million, prosecutors said.
The sale of BCC and its land to New Party founder Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) led to further losses of NT$2.845 billion, they said.
Chou released an audio recording of Ma presiding over the meetings, where a voice that sounded like Ma’s was heard directing the discussion and instructing party officials about the transaction process.
In one of the recordings Ma is heard speaking to Wang about the sale of CTV to its eventual buyer, Albert Yu (余建新), former chairman of the China Times Group (中時集團), before the group was purchased by Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團) chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) in 2008.
In the recording, Ma tells Wang to acquiesce to Yu’s demands about the financial terms and instructs him to refrain from actions that would “jeopardize the deal.”
Prosecutors said that Ma, Wang and Chang failed to uphold the trust given to them, breached accounting regulations and employed untoward business practices that resulted in losses for Central Investment and other KMT-controlled companies.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS