The Sports Affairs Council yesterday fined Fubon Financial Holding NT$150,000 for attempting to cover up a case of fraud at the sports lottery that was committed by one of its employees.
Sports Affairs Council Deputy Minister Steven Chen (陳士魁) said the council had asked Fubon to turn in a comprehensive report on how it planned to improve operation of Taiwan Sport Lottery Corp (TSLC) by the end of this month. A task force made up of officials from the council, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance, the Financial Supervisory Commission and experts will be tasked with reviewing the report to determine if the company is capable of executing the plan, he said.
Chen said the company was penalized based on Article 24 of Sports Lottery Act (運彩發行條例), adding that NT$150,000 was the maximum fine that may be imposed on the company for such a violation.
Taipei Fubon said on Wednesday that it would double the prize money for customers affected by the fraud, but the council said the company should triple the prize money, based on Article 51 of the Consumer Protection Act (消費者保護法), to demonstrate sincerity in settling the dispute. However, Fubon did not accept the suggestion.
“The article said ‘up to three times,’ and we respected the suggestion brought by the council’s legal experts,” TSLC president Hong Chu-ming (洪主民) said. “However, we have settled on the amount of compensation with a large number of consumers. We do not need to reactivate the mechanism for compensation.”
TSLC is a subsidiary of Fubon Financial Holding, which is one of the nation’s major financial groups.
Local media broke the story last week that one of TSLC’s employees, Lin Hao-chin (林昊縉), was alleged to have restarted bets immediately after the results of matches were known, earning NT$520,000 for himself and his accomplices.
Council officials said they had tried to confirm the story with Fubon executives twice soon after it broke. However, the company said on both occasions that it was simply a technical error.
Asked whether council officials would be held responsible for the incident, Chen said the Control Yuan would soon begin investigating whether the council may have been in breech of administrative oversight, adding that the council would fully cooperate with the investigation.
At a separate setting yesterday, Financial Supervisory Commission said it would have to gain better knowledge of the case before deciding whether to punish Fubon Financial Holding.
The commission will review later whether Fubon Financial is guilty of negligence in terms of internal control and mete out punishment if necessary, said Jean Chiu (邱淑貞), deputy director-general of the commission’s banking bureau.
Additional Reporting By Crystal Hsu
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