A government unit that manages public shareholding has formulated regulations to cap monthly salaries for heads of government-owned or partially state-funded financial institutions at NT$320,000.
The cap was calculated by doubling the monthly salary of NT$160,000 received by Susan Chang (張秀蓮), chairwoman of the government-owned Taiwan Financial Holding Co, the nation’s largest financial services provider.
The Executive Yuan’s Government Shareholding Management and Supervisory Unit passed the regulations on Wednesday after it was revealed that Taiwan Asset Management Corp (Tamco) chairman Chen Song-chu (陳松柱), allegedly lined his own pockets with company profits.
Chen was paid NT$400,000 a month, with an additional NT$150,000 in monthly public relations fees, far more than the NT$180,000 received by Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德), local media reports said.
The Tamco chairman reportedly distributed about NT$80 million (US$2.5 million) in corporate profits to 59 senior executives, including NT$20 million for himself and NT$10 million for a former company president.
The new regulations will apply to the chairmen and presidents of 108 government-owned or partially state-funded enterprises who are appointed or recommended for the position by the Ministry of Finance.
According to the regulations, those who are appointed or recommended by the ministry to serve as chairmen or presidents cannot receive a monthly salary that is more than double that of their counterparts in other state-run companies of about the same size, the same level and in the same field.
Salaries in excess of that will be taken into the national coffers or recouped by the companies, the regulations said.
Total variable income, such as performance rewards and other bonuses, for company heads should not exceed the total fixed income, the new regulations said.
In addition, there will be a cap of NT$200,000 on total performance bonuses, they said.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet yesterday approved an affordable housing project near the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT system’s Linkou (林口) station in Taipei County, with the price expected to be as low as NT$150,000 (US$4,695) per ping, an official said yesterday.
Lin Tsyr-ling (林慈玲), a deputy minister with the Ministry of the Interior, said the government might build more affordable housing on the outskirts of Taipei if the project is a success.
Construction is expected to be completed by 2013 to coincide with the opening of the MRT line. Under the proposal, the government will purchase 226.78 hectares of land from private land owners to build 4,000 units of affordable housing in the area where elementary and junior high schools and industry zones will be built.
Lin said the affordable houses would be restricted to certain income levels.
COSTS INCREASING: Opening a small coffee shop requires at least NT$2.5m, while a bigger one would need NT$5m, a chain executive said After nearly 30 years of weeding out the weak, Taiwan’s coffee market remains robust, importing more than 50,000 tonnes of coffee annually two years in a row — about five times the amount imported 25 years ago. When Starbucks, the leading company in the coffee industry globally, was first introduced to Taiwan in 1998, the nation’s annual coffee imports — including raw coffee beans, roasted coffee, coffee and coffee products — totaled about 8,766 tonnes, import and export data showed. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic began, Taiwan’s annual coffee imports were more than 50,000 tonnes. However, imports were affected by an indoor
RISING THREAT: The number of ‘fifth column’ units is rising and could follow China’s instruction to destroy or paralyze important infrastructure, the sources said National security officials have requested that military police be deployed to guard key infrastructure across the nation, in a bid to protect them from sabotage by sympathizers or supporters of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during wartime, also known as “fifth column” activities, military sources said yesterday. The threat from fifth column units is increasing due to a rise in immigrants, as well as members of organized crime groups being absorbed by the CCP, the sources said. As they could follow instructions from the CCP to destroy or paralyze Taiwan’s power plants, oil and water storage facilities, communication facilities and science
THREE-BODY GOVERNMENT: The constitutional reform to abolish the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan would bring Taiwan in line with most democratic nations Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have proposed abolishing the Control Yuan and the Examination Yuan — two of the nation’s five branches of government. The Control Yuan is the nation’s highest ombudsman, while the Examination Yuan is in charge of national exams for civil servants. The motion, led by DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃), has been signed by 30 DPP lawmakers. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁) and Taiwan People’s Party caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) have vowed to launch efforts to abolish the Control Yuan, as part of a constitutional reform process, Chen said on Thursday last week. “We
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators have proposed retroactive amendments to a bill on ill-gotten party assets. The proposed amendments to the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例) would add provisions on party-affiliated organizations. The amendments were proposed by KMT Legislator Yu Hao (游顥) and 36 other legislators who said that administrative agencies “seriously infringed upon the rights and interests of social welfare organizations.” “In addition to hindering the normal operation of these organizations, the act also damages social harmony and clearly deviates from its original legislative purpose,” the legislators said. “We’ve