The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday rejected Tatung Co’s (大同) attempt to register new board directors, saying that the company has misapplied the law to block some shareholders from voting during its annual general meeting held on Tuesday last week.
“We don’t consider [the meeting] valid,” Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) told reporters, calling for the two warring factions to step up and resolve the situation as soon as possible.
“Either the firm can hold a legitimate shareholder’s meeting or the minority stakeholders can organize their own under Article 173 of the Company Act (公司法),” she said.
Photo: Chien Li-chung, Taipei Times
The ministry could intervene under Article 195 of the act if the situation remained in limbo, as the current directors’ terms are ending, but only as a last resort, she said.
“Companies should govern themselves,” she added.
The home appliance maker has been embroiled in boardroom drama and corporate scandal for almost a decade.
Former Tatung chairman Lin Wei-shan (林蔚山) is serving an eight-year prison sentence for embezzling corporate funds.
His wife, Lin Kuo, is the leader of the “company faction” that has been at a war over ownership of the firm with the “market faction,” which is composed of institutional and individual investors.
The investors collectively own 53 percent of the firm’s shares, but Lin Kuo denied them the right to vote at the shareholders’ meeting, saying that they had contravened the Business Mergers and Acquisitions Act (企業併購法) and the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例).
Those siding with Lin Kuo then proceeded to elect a new nine-seat board, with Lin Kuo elected to serve as chairwoman.
Tatung misapplied the law to prevent some shareholders from voting, the ministry said in a statement, adding that as those votes remain valid, Tatung failed to reach the 50 percent shareholders’ participation threshold required to convene a shareholders’ meeting under the Company Act.
An investigation of the incident by the Financial Supervisory Commission is ongoing, it added.
Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center spokesman Chao Shun-sheng (趙順生) said that he is happy with the MOEA’s decision.
“The MOEA did what it could within its jurisdiction,” he said.
The center filed a lawsuit against Lin Kuo on behalf of the Tatung shareholders.
“This is a particularly egregious case of management infringing on the rights of shareholders,” Chao said, adding that this is the first time that the two acts have been weaponized in a shareholder power struggle.
Shanyuan Group (三圓建設) chairman Wang Kuang-hsiang (王光祥), who leads a group of minority shareholders, said that he would seek the ministry’s approval to hold an extraordinary shareholders’ meeting, as Tatung management had falsified the shareholders’ meeting resolution.
Separately yesterday, the Financial Supervisory Commission said that Lin Kuo committed a breach of trust by preventing shareholders from voting at the company’s annual meeting last week.
The commission said it has reported Lin Kuo’s wrongdoing to investigators to be probed further.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
The National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology yesterday showcased its locally developed variants of the Vision 60 robotic patrol dog, which it plans to deploy on the nation’s outlying territories in the South China Sea. The variants were produced under the Joint Lab project — created by the institute and domestic companies — and assembled with domestically produced motors, lenses and artificial intelligence (AI) systems alongside licensed tech from the US, Missile and Rocket Systems Research Division deputy director Jen Kuo-kang (任國光) told the media event at a military base in Taipei’s Dazhi (大直) area. Taiwan has built up its strengths
RSS