Government officials yesterday clarified accounts following a media report that said the state-owned Taiwan Post Co was asked by the government to deposit NT$10 billion (US$324 million) in a bank affiliated with a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker.
The latest issue of Next magazine published yesterday reported that Vice Premier Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) demanded Taiwan Post deposit NT$10 billion in Sunny Bank (陽信銀行), one day after DPP Legislator Hsueh Ling (薛凌) and her husband Chen Shen-hung (陳勝宏) were charged with involvement in a loan scandal at the bank last year.
Chen, a former DPP lawmaker, is chairman of the bank.
PHOTO: CNA
The report said Taiwan Post deposited NT$37 billion in some questionable banks, NT$10 billion of which was deposited in Sunny Bank. The bank has only returned NT$6.5 billion after Chiou had Taiwan Post defer payment four times.
clarification
Executive Yuan spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (
"It's wrong to accuse the government of aiding Sunny Bank. The government will work out a plan for Sunny Bank to repay the loan interest and principal with the bank. The allegation of the report was unfair to the bank and to the government," Shieh said.
"When a bank is having a financial crisis, the government has the obligation to step in to keep depositors of the banks from suffering losses," he said.
When approached by reporters outside the Executive Yuan, Chiou also dismissed the allegation made by the report that he embezzled the Taiwan Post fund to aid Hsueh.
Earlier yesterday at a press conference, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) called the postal company's decision into question, saying that Sunny Bank's credibility had been sabotaged after suffering from an alleged embezzlement scandal last year, in which Hsueh and Chen were charged with seeking illegal loans with fake documents from the Sunny Bank.
Lin questioned postal company president Wu Min-yu (吳民佑), who attended the conference, over whether DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) had received the money as a campaign contribution.
In response, Wu confirmed the magazine's report, but denied that Chiou was responsible for the company making the deposit.
He said the postal company did not take the initiative to put the money in Sunny Bank until officials from the company participated in a meeting presided over by the Banking Bureau, under the Financial Supervisory Commission, and the Central Deposit Insurance Co.
tight-lipped
Meeting participants prompted the decision to have the Taiwan Post Co store the money in Sunny Bank in a bid to "maintain overall financial order," Wu said. He remained tight-lipped, however, when asked by KMT legislators regarding details of the meeting.
At a separate setting yesterday, Ministry of Transportation and Communications Vice Minister Ho Nuan-hsuen (
Taiwan Post currently keeps part of the postal fund at 34 state-run and private banks. The postal fund has topped NT$4 trillion, but only NT$722.5 billion are saved in these banks, he said.
Ho said that the Sunny Bank has a rating of AAA- and is rated B by the post office itself. The amount saved in Sunny Bank is approximately NT$9.5 billion.
In addition to Sunny, Ho said that the Taiwan Post also has savings in the Chinese Bank (中華商業銀行), Bowa Bank (寶華銀行), Asia Trust (亞洲信託) and other banks.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
A vessel owned by Taiwan’s cargo container shipping company Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp caught fire after an explosion occurred in a container on board while the ship was at the busy Port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in eastern China on Friday. Yang Ming Marine confirmed the incident and said a preliminary investigation found that the explosion occurred in a container on its vessel, the YM Mobility, which reportedly arrived in Ningbo early on Friday morning after its last call in Shanghai. “Immediate fire control measures were taken, and the situation is now under control,” Yang Ming Marine said in a statement. “All crew
The number of foreign students attending Taiwanese universities last year dropped 9.46 percent from 2019, mainly due to a marked decline in the number of Chinese students, the National Audit Office said in a report. Last year, there were 116,038 foreign students — 67,299 degree students and 48,739 non-degree students — a decrease of 12,119, or 9.46 percent, from 128,157 in 2019, the report said. China in 2020 stopped allowing Chinese students to study in Taiwan, saying that COVID-19 pandemic controls and “the cross-strait situation” were the reasons for the change. Chinese who had already come to Taiwan were allowed finish their
‘UNITING TAIWAN’: While the boxer’s home town is offering free train and sports center access, stores around the nation are offering discounts to celebrate her victory New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday declared Aug. 12 “Lin Yu-ting Day” after the Taiwanese boxer won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg category at the Paris Olympics. Lin’s hometown is in the city’s Yingge District (鶯歌). The final between Lin and Poland’s Julia Szeremeta was broadcast live at the city hall early yesterday morning, where Hou, Lin’s mother and more than 200 people rooted for her. Thunderous roars and applause erupted at the city hall when the referee lifted Lin’s hand to show she had won. To celebrate Lin’s hard-won victory, Aug. 12 would be designated Lin
HUGE UPGRADE: Once Terminal 3 is completed, the airport’s passenger service capacity would expand to 82 million travelers per year from 37 million, an official said The north concourse of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 is scheduled to begin operations in the middle of next year, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said yesterday. The Terminal 3 project was launched as the number of air travelers accessing the nation’s largest international airport each year has already exceeded the combined capacity of terminals 1 and 2. The two existing terminals were designed to be accessed by 37 million air travelers per year. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, about 48.36 million accessed the airport in 2019. The airport operator yesterday organized a field trip for reporters to see Terminal 3 construction