A proposal by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) caucus to set up an investigation committee into National Development Fund (NDF) investments passed during a plenary vote at the legislature yesterday.
Despite opposition from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the proposal passed with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and TPP lawmakers, who hold a combined majority in the legislature, voting in favor of it.
Ruling and opposition parties would assign members to the committee according to their party’s legislative seats, with seven people from the KMT, six from the DPP and one from the TPP.
Photo: CNA
The first committee meeting, to be held on Dec. 2, would discuss and determine the committee’s operational rules.
The TPP caucus yesterday said that more than half of investments made by the agency resulted in heavy losses, including the investments in Roo Hsing Co (如興) in 2017, United Renewable Energy Co (聯合再生能源) in 2018 and Unity Opto Technology Co (東貝光電) in 2019.
A committee to investigate the agency’s investments and managerial misconduct should be established, with the results compiled into a report to inform about the reforms that are needed, it said.
The committee would investigate whether wrong decisions were made regarding investments, corruption was covered up due to external intervention and whether the fund properly reviewed its failed investments to make improvements, it added.
Investigations would also be conducted to see whether the agency could make corrections or implement exit strategies for investments that are no longer economically viable or have deviated from the government policy, it added.
The committee would also examine whether the agency invested in projects that could increase industrial benefits or improve industrial structures, such as industrial innovations, high-tech development, or energy and resource recovery, it said.
DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) criticized the investigation’s scope, which includes almost all the investments, and asked “whether the TPP is using the committee to influence stock prices of listed companies to engage in stock speculation.”
TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said DPP lawmakers’ criticisms of the committee demonstrate “how fearful they are to see the committee established.”
Additional reporting by CNA
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