The abrupt ouster of the chairman of the board at Minjian Investment Ltd Co (民間投資) on Thursday is widely seen as a tactic to take over control of Formosa TV (民視) in the upcoming vote for board chair at the network, sources within Formosa TV said.
Minjian Investment has a seat on the Formosa TV board of directors and owns a 49.7 percent stake in the network, meaning that whoever it supports in the election would likely become its chair.
Minjian’s board sacked Kuo Pei-hung (郭倍宏) as chairman after a vote of no confidence to a motion proposed by board member Huang Ming-chan (黃明展), but Kuo remains chairman at Formosa TV.
Photo: Pan Sha-tang, Taipei Times
Kuo received board approval to take out a NT$500 million (US$16.19 million) loan from Taishin International Bank using company shares as collateral, Huang said.
The board was not told what the loan would be used for and Kuo claimed that in its final decision, the board had approved getting a loan of an indeterminate amount from an unspecified bank, Huang said.
Kuo on Thursday also proposed to replace the accountant, the sources.
A motion by Huang to have the court appoint someone to audit Minjian Investment’s account is being considered, Huang said.
Kuo showed attendees at the board meeting the bank book to reassure them that the money was in the account, the sources said.
The account is in the company’s name, Huang said, but added that Kuo has access to both the seal and the bank book.
“What company would allow the chairman to have access to the seal and the bank book?” Huang said, adding that Kuo’s access allows him to move funds at will.
Kuo and Minjian Investment chief executive officer Wang Ming-yu (王明玉) could not be reached for comment on Friday.
The Formosa TV sources said that Wang supported Huang’s no-confidence motion because Kuo was rumored to want a professional manager to run the company and to replace Wang with his special assistant.
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