A group of DPP legislators yesterday alleged that KMT Vice Chairman Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) covered up fraud and other irregularities involving the management of the China Technical Consultants Incorporated (CTCI) Foundation, a government-funded organization of which Siew is a senior adviser.
The legislators did not explain exactly how Siew covered up for his associates.
The lawmakers, including Tu Wen-ching (
Siew immediately rejected the allegations, saying that he had never participated in the foundation's business affairs and had no idea as to how it was being operated.
The CTCI Foundation, founded in 1959 with donations from state-run enterprises, including Chinese Petroleum Corp and the Taiwan Power Company, is subject to the supervision of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The foundation, set up by the CTCI Corp (中鼎工程公司) in 1979 as a joint venture, holds 36.83 percent of the company's stocks.
CTCI provides consultancy services on energy conservation and environmental issues and carries out general research and development in these areas.
It depends largely on government-subsidized projects.
Liu Wei-teh (劉維德), a former director-general of the Board of Foreign Trade, and Yu Chun-yen (余俊彥), a former board official, are chairmen of the CTCI Foundation and CTCI Corp, respectively.
According to the DPP legislators, Siew, Liu and Yu were colleagues at the Board of Foreign Trade.
After Siew stepped down from the premiership two years ago, Liu hired him as the foundation's senior adviser at NT$300,000 per month and offered him a spacious office .
As senior adviser, the legislators said, Siew covered up for Liu and Yu in a bid to buy up CTCI stock through a "fake foreign investor," -- a subsidiary company set up by the CTCI in Singapore also headed by Yu -- in an effort to amass a controlling interest in CTCI.
In what way the setting up of the subsidiary company was illegal was also left unexplained by lawmakers.
The legislators said that Liu, fearing that he might be replaced as chairman after the DPP came to power, maneuvered to control the board of the CTCI Corp to try to wrest authority over the company from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
These machinations are ongoing, the lawmakers said.
Siew, who is currently on a trip to Japan, said through his aides that none of the things alleged by the DPP lawmakers have anything to do with him.
Siew reiterated that although he has served as a senior adviser to the CTCI Foundation since leaving office, he has not played a part in operations of the foundation.
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