The Control Yuan yesterday impeached former CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 中國石油) chairman Pan Wenent (潘文炎) and two CPC officials over their handling of a natural gas transaction that led to losses of about NT$721 million (US$22.4 million) by the company.
Pan, Li Cheng-ming (李正明) and Liao Hui-chen (廖惠貞) were impeached for changing CPC regulations so that Hsin Yu Energy Development Corp could purchase natural gas from the state-owned company at a lower price and failing to terminate the contract when the buyer did not pay.
Control Yuan members Chen Yung-hsiang (陳永祥) and Gau Fehng-shian (高鳳仙), who were in charge of the investigation, said the change in regulations resulted in losses of NT$388.2 million for CPC, with an additional NT$333.4 million from the continued provision of natural gas without receiving payment.
Chen said Pan and the other two CPC officials disregarded the Ministry of Economic Affairs, even when the supervisory agency demanded a review of the deal.
“The ministry sent documents to CPC on three separate occasions asking it to review the transaction, but the trio disobeyed the order, for various reasons,” Chen said.
In response to the impeachment, Pan was quoted by the Central News Agency as saying that he respected the Control Yuan’s decisions, but said he did nothing wrong.
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