Pan-green Taipei City councilors yesterday filed a lawsuit against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
Independent Taipei City Councilor Chien Yu-yen (
Chien alleged that Ma helped Taipei Fubon Bank amass more than NT$100 billion (US$3.2 billion) in illegal profits when it approved the merger of the privately owned Fubon Bank (
She said when the two banks were merged, the new entity acquired Taipei Bank's 44 branches, including land and property, based on their original value dating back to the 1960s and 1970s.
She said Ma might have violated the law because he did not order a reassessment of the value of Taipei Bank's real estate before selling it to the new bank.
She added that Taipei Bank's profit-generating capability was 2.75 times that of Fubon Bank, but the share swap ratio was set at a low 1.42 shares of Fubon Bank for each share of Taipei Bank.
Chien also alleged that on Nov. 30, 2006, Ma ordered the city government to deposit all of the city treasury's assets in Taipei Fubon Bank without holding a public bid.
She said the city council rejected a city government proposal to deposit the city's assets in Taipei Fubon Bank in July 2005, and the council thought Ma would hold a public tender to decide which bank would take the city's assets.
By ordering the treasury to put the funds in Taipei Fubon Bank, Ma might have violated the Government Procurement Law and illegally benefited the bank, she said.
READY: The CGA said it closely monitored China’s maritime exercise, deployed vessels to shadow the Chinese ships one-on-one and set up emergency response centers Chinese navy and coast guard ships have returned to China, signaling the end of a massive maritime exercise, authorities said yesterday. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) released images it said showed Chinese vessels sailing north in rough seas past Taiwan on Thursday, on their way to China. “All the Chinese coast guard went back to China yesterday, so although they have not officially made any announcement, we consider it over,” CGA Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said. Beijing has not confirmed the drills and the Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not say whether the maneuvers had taken place when asked at a
People can take the Taipei MRT free of charge if they access it at Nanjing Sanmin Station or Taipei Arena Station on the Green Line between 12am and 6am on Jan. 1, the Taipei Department of Transportation said on Friday, outlining its plans to ease crowding during New Year’s events in the capital. More than 200,000 people are expected to attend New Year’s Eve events in Taipei, with singer A-mei (張惠妹) performing at the Taipei Dome and the city government’s New Year’s Eve party at Taipei City Hall Plaza, the department said. As people have tended to use the MRT’s Blue or
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Upon its completion next year, the new Tamkang Bridge (淡江大橋) in New Taipei City is to be an important landmark in Taiwan, alongside Taipei 101, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said today. The bridge is scheduled to be completed in December next year and open to the public in the first half of 2026, connecting New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里) districts. It is an asymmetric single-tower suspension bridge, nearly 70 stories tall, designed by world-famous architect Zaha Hadid. The bridge aims to alleviate traffic in Tamsui and on the Guandu Bridge (關渡大橋), in addition to increasing the
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