Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday criticized the government for failing to prevent a run on The Chinese Bank, while Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers said KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
Financial problems within the Rebar Asia Pacific Group recently led to two of its member companies applying for insolvency, which in turn triggered a run on The Chinese Bank, also a member of the group. As a result, the bank was taken over by the government on Friday.
The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) should have stepped in sooner than it did, KMT Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (
Tsai added that the FSC should be abolished as "it is as useless as an appendix."
KMT Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (
"We suspect that the FSC gave the Rebar Group too much free rein. About two months ago, FSC Chairman Shih Jun-ji (施俊吉) guaranteed [the bank's ability to operate]. Can he explain how the run on the bank happened?" Lai asked.
The government wouldn't have had to waste taxpayers' money on bailing out The Chinese Bank if the FSC had done its job better, KMT Legislator Lee Jih-chu (李紀珠) said.
"This incident proves that the government is not capable of managing problematic financial institutions. As a result, a conglomerate made large sums of money and taxpayers were saddled with debt," she said.
DPP Legislator Lin Su-shan (
"Rebar Group chairman Wang You-theng (
Lin demanded that Ma use his influence to convince Wang, who fled to China the day after two Rebar Group companies applied for insolvency, to come back to Taiwan.
"The KMT's former secretary-general, Lin Fong-cheng (
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