Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and his wife, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花), declared more than NT$100 million (US$3.2 million) in finances and assets, a report on government officials’ finances and assets by the Control Yuan showed.
The Koo family had NT$65.2 million in savings, NT$13.3 million in securities, six plots of land in Taipei’s Wenshan District (文山), five real-estate holdings and one vehicle, said the report, which was released late last month.
Koo also declared paintings, watches and a golf club membership with a combined value of NT$5.76 million, in addition to bonds worth NT$1.28 million, the report said.
Koo had also paid off a total of NT$46 million for a home in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) that the couple purchased in June 2013, and only had about NT$500,000 in other housing debts, it said.
Meanwhile, 35 year-old Audrey Tang (唐鳳), the youngest minister without portfolio in the nation’s history, declared her finances for the first time.
Tang declared NT$2.7 million in savings, one building and a plot of land under her name in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店), one vehicle and NT$10 million in housing loans, the report said.
The reports are conducted in accordance with the Act on Property-Declaration by Public Servants (公職人員財產申報法), the Act on Recusal of Public Servants Due to Conflict of Interest (公職人員利益衝突迴避法), the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法) and the Lobbying Act (遊說法).
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
CHINA illness surge: Of 88 travelers from China, Hong Kong and Macau with respiratory symptoms who were encouraged to get tested upon arrival, 70.6% had the flu Two hundred and sixty people with COVID-19 were hospitalized and 31 deaths related to the virus were reported last week — the highest numbers in four weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that cases are expected to peak next month. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said that of the 260 people hospitalized last week with moderate to severe COVID-19, 98 percent had not received the Omicron XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine. Among the people hospitalized this year, 78 percent were aged 65 or older, while most of the those who were hospitalized or died have or had
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she