Investors continued to dump their holdings in Taiwan Fertilizer yesterday, as shares tumbled to the 7% limit for the fourth straight trading session. The stock closed at NT$51.5 Saturday morning following accusations of misuse of funds at the recently privatized firm.
Accusations continued to fly over the scandal, involving huge sums transferred to Taiwan Fertilizer's subsidiaries, which were then used to ramp up the stock price of the company.
Li Ming-che (
According to the United Evening News, Li Ming-che is a large shareholder in a number of listed companies in Taiwan. A close associate of legislative speaker Wang Chin-ping (
Local media reports are suggesting that other Soong supporters may also be involved in the scandal, speculating that the insiders attempted to drive up the stock price of the company to build an election war chest for Soong.
Sources from the legislature also told the United Evening News that DPP legislators were also involved in the stock scandal.
The KMT owns a substantial portion of shares in the company, held through the Central Investment Company (
Cheng Wen-ching (
New Party legislator Lai Shih-pao (
Cheng Wen-ching responded by saying that in the future, government-owned stock of state-run enterprises should be sold within five years of privatization. Any stock not sold within that time frame should revert to the National Property Bureau under the Ministry of Finance, Cheng strongly suggested.
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