The head of a prestigious Taipei hospital has suddenly resigned his post over allegations of corruption and cronyism.
Chang Mau-song (張茂松) quit his job as the dean of Taipei Veterans General Hospital last evening. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Cabinet's Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen (VACRS) -- the goverment agency that is responsible for the hospital.
Deputy Dean Lee Liang-hsiung (
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The drama began yesterday morning when DPP legislators Lee Chen-nan (李鎮楠) and Charles Chiang (江昭儀) held a press conference to accuse Chang of embezzlement.
According to Lee and Chiang's accusations, Chang was the only person at the hospital who had access to a secret NT$300 millionfund called the "Jung-kwang Fund" (
"Chang should explain why, what, who, where and how he was dealing with the fund. The most important thing is that he should explain to the public whether the money is legal," Lee said at a press conference yesterday.
Lee and Chiang's also accused Chang of accepting bribes from medical equipment and drug manufacturers. In addition, they charged, Chang had hired a crony to handle the money for him.
According to the lawmakers, the hospital's chief accountant Yu Ping-tung (
Although Chang had not repsonded publicy to the accusations, the hospital swiftly issued a press release answering the charges.
The statement said that officials from the VACRS had begun their investigation of the issue and would try to find out if Chang is involved in any illegal deals.
The statement also denied that the Jung-kwang Fund was some kind of secret program.
"It was a fund established by our founder Lu Chi-teh (
As for Chang allegedly accepting bribes from medical-equipment manufacturers, the press release said that the money in question was actually donations from those manufacturers and that the money was used by the hospital for medical research purposes.
"Every single penny was registered in our account book, which is retrievable," the press release said.
The press release did not, however, explain whether Yu's promotion was a result of Chang's favoritism.
News of Chang's resignation came shortly after the hospital's announcement had been made public.
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
MILITARY EXERCISES: China is expected to conduct more drills in the region after President William Lai’s office announced he would stopover in Hawaii and Guam China is likely to launch military drills in the coming days near Taiwan, using President William Lai’s (賴清德) upcoming trip to the Pacific and scheduled US transit as a pretext, regional security officials said. Lai is to begin a visit to Taipei’s three diplomatic allies in the Pacific on Saturday, and sources told Reuters he was planning stops in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam in a sensitive trip shortly after the US presidential election. Lai’s office has yet to confirm details of what are officially “stop-overs” in the US, but is expected to do so shortly before he departs, sources
RSS