The legislature’s Transportation Committee passed a resolution yesterday asking the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) and the Bureau of Investigation to jointly look into whether any government official is involved in the Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) financial crisis.
The two organizations have also been asked to submit their reports in two weeks.
The resolution was proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) after FAT and Phnom Penh-based Angkor Airways unexpectedly suspended operations earlier this month.
Both FAT’s former chairman Stephen Tsui (崔湧) and its former president Philip Chen (陳尚群) were detained for allegedly embezzling NT$2 billion (US$65.6 million) from the airline.
Alex Lou (樓文豪), chairman of Angkor Airways’ Taiwan branch, was also placed in custody on charges of breach of trust.
In a question and answer session yesterday, Lee singled out Far Eastern Group, FAT’s largest shareholder, for criticism as it was unwilling to increase its shareholding in the airline to help the company through a difficult period.
“You can’t always ask the government to clear up the mess,” he said.
Another KMT Legislator Chen Ken-te (陳根德) added that FAT’s international flights had been highly unprofitable. Because of this, some of the company’s overseas representatives could not return to Taiwan because they have been grounded by legal authorities in the countries where they are based, he said.
Other lawmakers criticized the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) for failing to have a full grasp of the airline’s financial situation.
KMT Legislator Liao Kuo-tung (廖國棟) asked about the possibility of the government taking over the company’s operations.
In response, CAA director general Billy Chang (張國政) said the government had neither the responsibility nor the funds to bail out FAT.
Chang said that FAT was a succesful domestic carrier but a series of bad investments had caused it to lose up to NT$10.2 billion.
He added that the court had issued an emergency order to protect the airline from creditors while it addresses its financial problems. The deadline, however, is this Thursday, he said.
Chang said the company had applied for a court extension of three months to allow it sufficent time to find new investors.
He added that U-Ming Marine Transport Corp (裕民航運), a member of the Far Eastern Group, had agreed only to increase its shares in FAT to 15 percent and insisted that other major shareholders increase their share amounts accordingly based on their respective percentage of shares in the company.
China Airlines and China Development and Industrial Bank, two other major shareholders, were unwilling to increase their stakes.
“Some private investors have shown interest in the company,” he said, refusing to disclose any names.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS