A Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co (TAPM) board meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday to clarify a spate of scandals was called off due to a lack of quorum, and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said the result showed that the Taipei City Government does not have control over the company.
The city government earlier this month sent officials and its TAPM supervisor — Department of Finance Deputy Commissioner Shen Jung-ming (沈榮銘) — to investigate the company’s accounting books, which sparked debate on whether the action was legal.
Controversy surrounding the way that TAPM general manager Wu Yin-ning (吳音寧) has spent her stipend and the city government asking its supervisor to investigate the company’s accounting books have sparked debate among politicians from the pan-blue and pan-green camps.
Ko has repeatedly claimed that controversy surrounding Wu and former general manager Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) were used by the two camps in their political struggle, and urged Taipei Deputy Mayor Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻), who doubles as TAPM chairman, to call an extraordinary board meeting for Shen to report his findings.
Ko yesterday said his attitude toward the controversy is to be open and transparent, adding that he does not favor any one and only hopes the debate would come to an end quickly.
The meeting’s cancelation has shown the public that the city government cannot have its way with TAPM nor control the management of its human resources, as the city holds only about a 22 percent stake in the company and five seats on its board, Ko said.
However, the city is still the firm’s governing agency, so it will continue to supervise it and carry out its duties.
Of its 23 board members, only nine — including five appointed by the city — showed up for the meeting.
Wu on Tuesday wrote on Facebook that TAPM is a self-financed private company, in which the Council of Agriculture (COA) and the city government each hold a 22.76 percent stake, agriculture associations hold 24.81 percent, agricultural product dealers hold 20.19 percent and the Fruit Marketing Cooperative holds 9.48 percent.
The city might ask the company general manager or chairman to report to the city council if it holds more than half of the company’s shares, according to the Self-
governing Rules for the Management and Supervision of Taipei City Government Invested Businesses (台北市政府投資事業管理監督自治條例), she wrote.
Board member and National Farmers’ Association Secretary-General Chang Yung-cheng (張永成) accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of protecting Wu, saying that it should require Wu to report to the city council like it had asked of Han.
COA Deputy Minister Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said that the council’s five board members were busy assisting farmers and that the council did not think they needed to spend time attending the meeting.
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