Despite demands to the contrary by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, the Cabinet-level Financial Supervisory Commission appears to have no immediate plans to suspend its Examination Bureau director-general, Lee Chin-chen (李進誠), on the strength of allegations of illegal insider trading on the stock market.
"There exists only one truth," the commission's vice-chairman Lu Daung-yen (呂東英) told the Taipei Times yesterday.
"We will disclose the facts about the case that the commission has acquired tomorrow [today] and issue a response to the legislators' demands," he said.
However, he declined to confirm if the "facts" to be revealed relate to the prosecutors' possible involvement in the illegal-trading case, which the commission alleged last week. He also remained tight-lipped about whether the commission would suspend Lee.
Lu's remarks came after DPP legislators Charles Chiang (江昭儀) and Hsieh Ming-yuan (謝明源) yesterday asked the commission's chairman, Kong Jaw-sheng (龔照勝), to remove Lee from his position as director general for his suspected illegal trading in Power Quotient International Co (勁永國際) shares.
Chiang said Kong should remove Lee from his position to avoid him abusing his power and hindering the investigation process, the Central News Agency reported yesterday. Kong last week said he believed Lee was innocent.
Lee's office has the power to investigate irregularities in the financial markets. But the Black Gold Investigation Center of the Taiwan High Court Prosecutors' Office claimed last week that they had found concrete evidence that strongly suggested Lee's likely involvement in the illegal trading of Power Quotient stocks. This was a huge blow to the financial watchdog, on the eve of its first anniversary celebrations.
The evidence included a note -- in Lee's handwriting, according to the center -- to the prime suspect, Lin Ming-da (
The prosecutors' claims infuriated the commission and led to intensifying in-fighting between the two government agencies. The commission on Friday decided to form its own investigating task force, while accusing some of the prosecutors of possible involvement in the scandal.
The commission's task force will investigate employees of the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp, the Securities and Futures Bureau, the Financial Examination Bureau, prosecutors and investigators, as well as their close relatives, to determine whether they were engaged in illegally trading in Power Quotient shares, the commission said.
HANDOVER POLICY: Approving the probe means that the new US administration of Donald Trump is likely to have the option to impose trade restrictions on China US President Joe Biden’s administration is set to initiate a trade investigation into Chinese semiconductors in the coming days as part of a push to reduce reliance on a technology that US officials believe poses national security risks. The probe could result in tariffs or other measures to restrict imports on older-model semiconductors and the products containing them, including medical devices, vehicles, smartphones and weaponry, people familiar with the matter said. The investigation examining so-called foundational chips could take months to conclude, meaning that any reaction to the findings would be left to the discretion of US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming team. Biden
INVESTMENT: Jun Seki, chief strategy officer for Hon Hai’s EV arm, and his team are currently in talks in France with Renault, Nissan’s 36 percent shareholder Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the iPhone maker known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, is in talks with Nissan Motor Co’s biggest shareholder Renault SA about its willingness to sell its shares in the Japanese automaker, the Central News Agency (CNA) said, citing people it did not identify. Nissan and fellow Japanese automaker, Honda Motor Co, are exploring a merger that would create a rival to Toyota Motor Corp in Japan and better position the combined company to face competitive challenges around the world, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. However, one potential spanner in the works is
HON HAI LURKS: The ‘Nikkei’ reported that Foxconn’s interest in Nissan accelerated the Honda-merger effort out of fears it might be taken over by the Taiwanese firm Nissan Motor Co has become the latest buyout target in Japan as it explores a merger with Honda Motor Co and faces an overture from Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally. Shares in Nissan yesterday jumped 24 percent, the most on record, to hit the daily limit, after the two Japanese automakers acknowledged that talks are ongoing to better position themselves for competitive challenges during a time of upheaval in the global auto industry. Foxconn — a Taipei-based manufacturer of iPhones, which has been investing heavily in factories to build electric vehicles — has also
CHIP SUBSIDY: The US funding would help alleviate the financial pressure from building two fabs in the US and should lift gross margins in 2026, the company said GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said it is to receive US$406 million in subsidies from the US Department of Commerce for two new US fabs under the CHIPS and Science Act, with the first batch of the funds likely coming next year. The grant represents 10 percent of the planned investments of US$4 billion in advanced semiconductor wafer manufacturing facilities in Texas and Missouri, GlobalWafers said. The commerce department is to disburse the funds based on the completion of project milestones over a multiyear timeframe, the company said. Along with the tax credit, which is equal to
RSS