The National Communications Commission (NCC) members who took part in Tuesday's review of the Broadcasting Corporation of China's application to transfer its shares to four companies will be referred to the judiciary, a government spokesman said yesterday.
Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said that the referral would take place within a week at the latest.
"In the meantime, [the government] doesn't rule out the possibility of suspending the authority of NCC members," Shieh told a press conference after an inter-departmental meeting was held on how to react to the approval.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
Shieh said that government officials had ascertained during the meeting that the four companies along with four other companies claiming to be shareholders of one of the first four companies, were "front companies" owned by [former UFO Radio chairman] Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) and his wife Liang Lei (梁蕾).
"As a result, the transaction was illegal and the NCC members are thus under suspicion of dereliction of duty and aiding Jaw," Shieh said.
The NCC on Tuesday approved the BCC's application to transfer its shares to four companies and another application to install Jaw as chairman of its board after the BCC promised it would unconditionally return two radio frequencies to the government.
Shieh said that Jaw established the eight companies as a means to circumvent a regulation of the Enforcement Rule of the Broadcasting and Television Law (
"Jaw actually owns about 40 percent to 50 percent of the BCC's shares," Shieh said.
Shieh said that officials with the Financial Supervisory Commission, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Taipei Business Administration Office told the inter-departmental meeting that they had expressed doubts about the eight companies to the NCC, but the NCC members didn't bother to investigate the facts behind the deal.
In response, NCC spokesperson Howard Shyr (
He said that what Shieh had mentioned in his statement about the registration and the shareholders' meetings are regulated by the Corporation Law (
Shyr emphasized that the commission had been as thorough as possible when reviewing the case.
For example, he said, the commission had garnered official replies from the High Prosecutors' Office and the High Court indicating that none of the proposed persons in charge had any committed any criminal acts.
He said that the Ministry of Economic Affairs had also informed the commission in March that they could not find any problems with the four shareholding companies.
Shyr said that the BCC has promised to fulfill every requirement in its agreement with the commission. If the Executive Yuan finds anything inappropriate in how the case was handled, it should gain a thorough understanding by consulting with the different administrative organizations in charge.
"Before Shieh, there were seven other GIO ministers, and none of them managed to get the two frequencies back from the BCC," he said. "The commission got the BCC to unconditionally return them."
Earlier yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Yu Shyi-kun urged the Cabinet to relieve NCC Chairman Su Yeong-ching (蘇永欽) of his duties, charging him with malfeasance and profiting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
"The KMT obtained its assets through unjust means. It is a consensus among the public that these assets should be recovered," Yu said.
Yu said he had reported the KMT's controversial sale of its stolen assets to the Ministry of Justice last November, but the ministry's Special Investigation Division had not yet looked into the controversies.
Yu said that the second stage of the party's campaign for a referendum on recovering the KMT's stolen assets had garnered over 1.4 million signatures.
The Referendum Law (公投法) states that the signatures of 5 percent of the nation's eligible voters, or 830,000 names, must be collected before a referendum can take place.
The DPP campaign had collected 1,424,478 signatures as of Tuesday, Yu said.
Yu said the party would submit the signatures to the Cabinet for verification, adding that the party hopes the referendum can be held along with next year's legislative or presidential election.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and