■CRIME
Danny Pang allowed bail
A US federal magistrate has ruled that California-based financier Danny Pang (彭日成) can be released on US$1 million bail following his arrest on a complaint alleging he evaded currency reporting laws. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit last week against Pang and the company he founded, Private Management Group, accusing him of bilking investors by falsely portraying returns as coming from investments when the money instead came from a pyramid scheme.
■ELECTRONICS
Fujitsu announces losses
Japan’s Fujitsu Ltd said yesterday it suffered a ¥112.4 billion (US$1.15 billion) net loss for the business year through March due to the global economic crisis. The loss, which compares with a ¥48.1 billion profit a year earlier, was more than twice as big as the company’s own forecast. In addition to weak sales, restructuring costs weighed heavily on the bottom line. The company expects to return to the black in the current business year, projecting a net profit of ¥20 billion, an operating profit of ¥80 billion and revenue of ¥4.8 trillion.
■TELECOMS
Softbank makes record profit
Japanese Internet and telecom company Softbank Corp yesterday reported a record operating profit for the past financial year despite lower sales of mobile telephones. Softbank booked an operating profit of ¥359.12 billion in the year to March, up 10.7 percent from the previous year, while net profit plunged 60.3 percent to ¥43.17 billion partly on the early redemption of bonds and book losses on broadband infrastructure.
■AVIATION
Lufthansa reports losses
Germany’s leading airline Lufthansa posted yesterday a first-quarter net loss of 256 million euros (US$290 million), compared with a profit of 44 million euros in the same period a year earlier. On Wednesday, Lufthansa had reported an operating loss of 44 million euros in the first three months of the year and said it expected a drop in sales this year because of a dip in short-term demand for flights.
■BANKING
BOA chairman removed
Bank of America’s (BOA) shareholders on Wednesday removed Kenneth Lewis from the chairman’s post, but he will remain the chief executive, the US banking giant said. The decision to oust Lewis, who had angered shareholders by acquiring Merrill Lynch without informing them of the investment bank’s massive losses, was taken at the company’s annual meeting. Shareholders narrowly approved a proposal to change the firm’s by-laws to require an “independent chairman,” the bank said in a statement late on Wednesday.
■FINANCE
New rules on reporting
Beijing announced rules that ease controls on foreign financial information providers yesterday under an agreement with the US, Europe and Canada, but said those already operating in China must apply for permission to continue. The rules drop a requirement that foreign providers must work through a Chinese agent and reduces the amount of information they must disclose about their operations. Trade officials said the settlement would help Thomson Reuters Corp, Bloomberg LP and Dow Jones & Co. Xinhua was replaced as the industry regulator in February with a Cabinet body, the State Council Information Office, after complaints that Xinhua should not be allowed to regulate its competitors.
The navy has installed 13 Phalanx Block 1B close-in weapons systems on its warships, increasing their defensive firepower, a defense official said on Saturday. The systems cost the navy NT$10.16 billion (US$314.67 million), while eight additional Block 1A systems are being upgraded in the US and are expected to be delivered next year, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Phalanx system used by Taiwan to defend its warships and key radar installations is a radar-cued gun system capable of firing 4,500 rounds a minute at targets as far away as 1.5km, the official said. With their superior range of
CARROT AND STICK: Palauan president said in 2020 the Chinese ambassador to a neighboring country pledged to flood his country with tourists if it switches alliance Beijing weaponized tourism to the Pacific archipelago of Palau over its allegiance to Taiwan and its accusations that China was behind a major cyberattack there, Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr told The Associated Press (AP). Palau, along with Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, is one of the three Pacific nations to recognize Taiwan as an independent democracy. Taipei’s allies in the Pacific have dwindled from six countries in 2019. Nauru abandoned its ties in January. Whipps told the AP in an interview late on Thursday that, in 2020, while he was running for his current post, the Chinese ambassador to a neighboring country
FINANCIAL RECORD ISSUE: The TPP did not calculate campaign expenditures and such costs were included in the operational expenses, a party official said The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) last year raised NT$84.3 million (US$2.61 million) in donations and spent no money on campaigning, the latest Control Yuan audits on the campaign finances of Taiwanese political parties yesterday revealed. The audit report was published a day after police searched the offices of accounting firms and other companies linked to TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) presidential campaign as part of a probe into alleged corruption and false reporting of campaign finances dating back several years. Last year, the TPP raised NT$46.6 million in individual donations and NT$30.9 million from businesses while spending NT$71 million, including NT$37 million
ACCOUNTABILITY? Vivian Huang resigned as a TPP Central Standing Committee member, while an accountancy denied it was to blame for campaign finance errors Prosecutors yesterday searched offices of accounting firms and other companies linked to Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) presidential campaign amid allegations of fraud, while TPP Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) resigned from the party’s Central Standing Committee. Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau personnel collected material at seven locations in and around Taipei, including at marketing firm Muko (木可行銷公關), accounting firm Jing Hua CPA (精華會計師事務所), OCT Entertainment Co (時樂) and Neo Creative Marketing Production Co (尼奧創意行銷). They also searched the residences of Tai Li-ling (戴利玲), who is registered as the owner of OCT Entertainment and Neo