A Malawian official who played a key role in the government's decision to switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China has fled the country after pocketing the million-dollar "sweetener" Beijing had originally intended for the president, media reports in Malawi said.
A Malawi newspaper, the Nyasa Times, reported that Minister of Presidential and Parliamentary Affairs David Katsonga had angered President Bingu wa Mutharika by taking the "billions of kwachas" meant for the president after he broke ties with Taiwan to recognize Beijing late last year (US$1=141 kwachas).
The president has demanded Katsonga's immediate return.
FINANCIAL PACKAGE
Malawi reportedly agreed last month to switch diplomatic recognition to China in exchange for a US$6 billion financial package. However, Lilongwe waited until this month to announce it was severing its 42-year relationship with Taiwan when President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was out of the country.
Taiwan has since condemned the African country for colluding with Beijing to humiliate Taiwan.
Katsonga, a pro-China supporter, and another ranking Malawian official, Chimunthu Banda, were sent to Beijing to sign a memorandum of understanding last month, paving the way for the new alliance.
Quoting an anonymous government official close to Mutharika, the paper said: "A fellow Cabinet minister tipped the president off about the money from China."
ON THE RUN
Another Malawi news outlet, the Nation, revealed that Katsonga was on the run, saying he left Malawi on Jan. 16 for the UK through the Malawi-Zambia border at Mchinji.
Katsonga allegedly has a property in southeastern London and was once jailed in the UK for blackmailing a "sex mad, mile-high club" social worker.
The London Metropolitan Police would not confirm whether Malawi had enlisted their help in tracking down the official.
VACATION?
The Nation said the Malawian government had downplayed Katsonga's disappearance, claiming he was on vacation.
One Nyasa Times reader wrote that the Mutharika administration should fire Katsonga to protect the nation's dignity, while another said Katsonga's disappearance was proof that the establishment of Malawi-China ties would only benefit politicians from Malawi's ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
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
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
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS