Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Tsao-min (鄭朝明), whose name appeared on the list of account holders who hold heavy debts with one of the struggling banks under government control, admitted yesterday he owed a lot of money.
Cheng, however, said it was not his intention to default on his loan, which totals NT$40 million (US$1.21million), with the Taitung Business Bank (台東企銀).
"I am also a victim. I helped one of my friends by lending him NT$140 million [US$4.2 million] and then he left Taiwan without informing me," Cheng said.
The names of account holders in default -- including companies and individuals with The Chinese Bank (中華商銀), the Enterprise Bank of Hualien (花蓮企銀) and the Taitung Business Bank were made available on the Central Deposit Insurance Co's (CDIC, 中央存款保險公司) Web site on Tuesday night.
House mortgaged
Cheng said his house and land were mortgaged to the bank in 1995 for NT$140 million, and he had been trying to repay the loan ever since.
"The house and land were auctioned off by the bank to pay off the mortgage, and the bank has been deducting one-third of my monthly salary to refund the rest of it," Cheng said.
While it was widely expected that there would be several lawmakers on the list of bad-debtors, it turned out that Cheng was the only one.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said it might be because some of the defaulted accounts were actually dummy accounts owned by lawmakers.
"The disclosure of the names of account holders in heavy debt is good, but it is not enough. It's just like catching thieves. You can't just publicize their names, it is more important to catch them," Lai said.
Meanwhile, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday denied that the government was trying to shift the focus away from the "state affairs fund" case by having the CDIC disclose the names of bad debtors on Tuesday evening.
Expected
Revealing the identity of bad debtors was in line with the public's expectations and the government was just following the law, Ker said, citing Article 11 of the Resolution Trust Committee Fund Regulatory Provisions (
According to Article 11 of the provisions, the government is allowed to disclose the names of bad debtors, DPP Legislator Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said, adding that the provisions did not prevent the government from disclosing the identity of bad debtors' warrantors.
Gao urged the Financial Supervisory Committee to make public the identities of the warrantors because many of the bad debtors might have "borrowed" names from their warrantors in order to gain bank loans.
"Publicizing the names of the warrantors will mean the real bad debtors have nowhere to hide," he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS