News of the Week (Oct.25-31, 2007)

News of the Week

(Oct. 25-31, 2007)

1.Broadcasting Corp. of China (BCC) Chairman Jaw Shaw-kong announced on Oct. 24 that he would terminate his contract with Hua Hsia Corp., an investment firm owned by the KMT, withdraw from BCC's management and resign his posts as Chairman, General Manager, and host of a radio program. Jaw said, “I was relentlessly oppressed by the government and have fully realized the horror of an unscrupulous state authority. Politics interferes in business practices, preventing business deals from being made. I’ve tried my best. Now, I have decided to quit.” Jaw went on to say, “I am considering demanding state compensation for the loss caused by the government policy. ”

2.Regarding Jaw’s announcement that he was withdrawing from the BCC business, the KMT’s Central Investment Crop. expressed regrets. In an announcement released on Oct. 24, Central Investment Corp. stressed, “The KMT had sold its Hua Hsia Investment Corp., which had stakes in the BCC, to Jung Li Investment Corp., a China Times subsidiary. How the BCC was handled should be decided by Jun Li Investment Crop. and Jaw. The KMT no longer has the ownership of the BCC.”

3.The KMT Deputy Secretary-General Chang Che-shen said in a press conference on Oct. 27, “The KMT is established in accordance with law. Its party assets were all acquired legally. The dealings of the party assets are also all by the book. There are no irregularities, such as stealing and selling national assets. If the dealings of party assets violate any law, the prosecution is welcome to investigate by law.”

“What a shame that the Government Information Office, Executive Yuan, illegally exceeds its authority,” said Chang.

Chang went further to say, “In 2005, the KMT sold its stakes in China Television (CTV), the BCC, and Central Motion Pictures Corp (CMPC) and Hua Hsia Investment Corp. to Jung Li Investment. However, the DPP government intimidated prospective buyers, and even humiliated them verbally, so as to force them to quit at the stage of negotiations. If the ruling party had not obstructed the dealings and let the Central Investment Corp. deal with the KMT’s assets in line with usual commercial practice, no related problems would have occurred. Of course, by doing so, the ruling party would have lost a topic for electioneering. Obviously, the real intention of the ruling party was not to solve the problem of party assets. Instead, it only wanted to inflame this issue for elections to swindle votes.


4.According to a Oct. 30 report in the Liberty Times, the Executive Yuan spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey questioned the dealing of the KMT’s party assets regarding Hua Hsia Investment Corp., which had stakes in the CTV, BCC, and CMPC, by saying, “In stead of paying NT $ 4 billion, China Times Group President Albert yu, the buyer, only paid NT$ 890 million, through his subsidiary Jung Li Investment Corp., to KMT’s Central Investment Corp. As for the rest of the NT$ 3.1 billion, the Central Investment Corp. conducted false dealing with Jung Li Investment Corp. without payment.

In response to Shieh’s accusation, the Central Investment Corp. stressed in a press conference on Oct. 30, “ Besides NT$ 890 million in cash, a stake in Hua Hsia worth NT$ 3.1 billion were transferred to the Central Investment Corp. through ‘waiving of creditor’s rights’, which is legal and reasonable.” The Central Crop. criticized Shieh, saying, “ Shieh has no business knowledge or even common sense. He’s trying to mislead people using false figures and facts. He has a hidden agenda. The Central Investment Corp. has decided to file libel charges against Shieh with the Taipei Prosecutors Office.”

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