Executive Yuan spokesman Ting Yi-ming (丁怡銘) yesterday rebutted accusations by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members that Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) had worked to ensure that banking executive Jason Liao (廖燦昌) last year landed the job of chairman of state-run First Financial Holding Co and its subsidiary First Commercial Bank.
Liao resigned from both posts after he was indicted on Thursday last week in connection with charges of fraud against Far Eastern Air Transport Corp (FAT) chairman Chang Kang-wei (張綱維), which implicated several of the nation’s leading banks, including Taiwan Cooperative Bank.
KMT members held a briefing earlier yesterday alleging that Su personally endorsed Liao for the two top financial posts, despite criticism about bad debts and mismanagement when Liao was chairman of Taiwan Cooperative Bank.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
They said that Su had cast aside all doubts and questions and promoted Liao to the two plum posts in the financial sector.
Ting said that Chang negotiated the loans with Taiwan Cooperative Bank in 2016, during the transition from the KMT government to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government.
“Su could not have known of the financial irregularities relating to the case, which started in 2016, leading to a probe into bad loans at FAT and the indictments this year,” Ting said.
“The scandal did not result from Liao’s appointment as chairman of First Commercial Bank,” he said.
Taipei prosecutors also indicted Land Bank of Taiwan chairman Hwang Bor-Chang (黃伯川) and several other people on charges of embezzlement, breach of trust, fraud and contravening the Banking Act (銀行法) and the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) in connection with the case.
Chang allegedly defrauded several banks of about NT$3.59 billion (US$121.68 million at the current exchange rate).
The KMT members also charged that Liao in 2017 was also embroiled in the financial scandal involving Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co, alleging that he extended illicit loans as head of Taiwan Cooperative Bank at the time.
There were calls demanding that the Executive Yuan remove Liao, but “Su was protecting him at the time,” the KMT said.
“The Ching Fu Shipbuilding case falls under the KMT government of then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), when then-Executive Yuan secretary-general Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) ordered state-run bank executives to his office, saying the banks should ‘provide a public service’ by extending loans,” Ting said.
“It seems that the KMT now believes Chien had no responsibility in the case, and the KMT is redirecting the burden and legal responsibility to employees of the state banks, who were merely complying with the government’s directives,” he said.
“This seems to be very unfair,” he added.
Ting said that Liao at the time refused the request by Ma’s administration for his bank to extend the principal loans, “therefore, this role was passed on to First Commercial Bank.”
“Liao in heading the Taiwan Cooperative Bank had [the bank] only participate as a joint lender, and he later resigned to take responsibility for the bad loans to Ching Fu,” Ting added.
“Liao at the time did not resign because of illegal activities or because he was indicted,” he said.
“Su subsequently appointed Liao as chairman of First Commercial Bank. That was not a problem at the time.”
A series of discussions on the legacy of martial law and authoritarianism are to be held at the Taipei International Book Exhibition this month, featuring findings and analysis by the Transitional Justice Commission. The commission and publisher Book Republic organized the series, entitled “Escaping the Nation’s Labyrinth of Memory: What Authoritarian Symbols and Records Can Tell Us,” to help people navigate narratives through textual analysis and comparisons with other nations. The four-day series is to begin on Thursday next week with a discussion between commission Chairwoman Yang Tsui (楊翠), Polish-language translator Lin Wei-yun (林蔚昀), and Polish author and artist Pawel Gorecki comparing
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT: A US Air Force KC-135 tanker came less than 1,000 feet of an EVA plane and was warned off by a Taipei air traffic controller, a report said A US aerial refueling aircraft came very close to an EVA Airways jet in the airspace over southern Taiwan, a military aviation news Web site said. A report published by Alert 5 on Tuesday said that automatic dependent surveillance–broadcast (ADS-B) data captured by planfinder.net on Wednesday last week showed a US Air Force KC-135 tanker “coming less than 1,000 feet [305m] vertically with EVA Air flight BR225 as both aircraft crossed path south of Taiwan” that morning. The report included an audio recording of a female controller from the Taipei air traffic control center telling the unidentified aircraft that it was
MOVING OUT: A former professor said that rent and early education costs in Taipei are the nation’s highest, which makes it difficult for young people to start families The population of Taipei last year fell to the lowest in 23 years due to high rent, more transportation options and the expansion of northern cities into a single metropolis, academics and city officials said on Monday. Data released this month by the Ministry of the Interior showed that the capital was home to 2,602,418 people last year, down 42,623 from 2019. The decline is second only to 1993, when the population fell by 42,828 people, while Taipei’s population was the lowest it has been since 1997. Taipei saw the biggest drop among the six special municipalities, while Taoyuan led the group in
‘EFFECTIVE DETERRENCE’: If the Biden administration suspends arms sales to Taiwan, the military could still ready a nimble fighting force for defense, an analyst said The “US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific” last week sparked debate among analysts after US President Donald Trump declassified the document 20 years ahead of schedule. Trump on Tuesday last week released the document that had governed US strategic action in the region since the US leader approved its use in 2018. The document, which outlines US priorities in the region, emphasizes the importance of defending Taiwan against military aggression and facilitating the country’s development of asymmetric strategies and capabilities. The overall directive of the document is for the US to prevent China from establishing sustained air and sea dominance inside the first
RSS