The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) became embroiled in controversy yesterday after legislators across party lines criticized the nation’s top financial regulatory body for failing to submit budget proposals from its subsidiary legal entities for legislative review.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) accused the FSC of treating the legislature with contempt by ignoring its requests.
She also questioned whether the commission was trying to protect its own narrow self interest, as senior FSC officials usually take on different careers with the regulator after retirement.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) expressed a similar view, criticizing the commission for disrespecting the legislature.
REPORT
The lawmakers’ criticism came after the Chinese-language China Times yesterday reported that Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) was upset because the FSC had still not submitted budget proposals from legal entities under its purview as required by the legislature.
The story quoted Wang as saying that he never agreed that the FSC would be exempt from the legislature’s demands.
“If I ever agreed to such a thing, I might as well quit as legislative speaker,” Wang was quoted as saying.
The story also quoted FSC Chairman Sean Chen (陳冲) as saying that the FSC was still deliberating whether it was appropriate to submit the budget proposals of legal entities under its purview because the government did not hold more than 50 percent of their shares.
PUBLIC FUNDS?
The legislature has argued that the income of these organizations should be considered public funds because they come from mandatory fees.
Wang issued a written statement yesterday denying that he ever said he might as well quit as legislative speaker, but added that it was important the FSC communicate with legislators on the matter.
The FSC said in a statement later that the commission respected the legislative resolution and would submit the budget proposals to lawmakers within the time period set by the Cabinet.
The FSC said the commission paid a visit to Wang on Friday, promising to turn over the budget proposals as required. Officials said Wang also encouraged the commission to continue negotiating with all political parties over the issue.
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