News Analysis: MOEA Decides to Postpone Huang’s Promotion, Pending the Investigation Results

News Analysis

MOEA Decides to Postpone Huang’s Promotion, Pending the Investigation Results

Sources: Taipei newspapers April 9, 2008

The personnel matters of Taiwan Power Company (TPC) regarding the promotion of Huang Fu-yuan, Director of TPC North Branch (Taipei), to the position of TPC Vice-President have drawn public attention as TPC Chairman Edward Chen is in open defiance of the government’s order to promote Huang. In addition, the case started to snowball when Yao Chiang-lin, a member on the TPC Board of Directors, revealed that Huang Fu-yuan had tried to bribe him with money into supporting his promotion. Regarding the accusation, Huang said yesterday that he would sue those who accused him of committing bribery and lobbying for libel, including TPC Chairman Edwards Chen, Yao Chiang-lin, Wu Cheng-tai, Directory-General of TPC Labor Union, and KMT legislator Lee Ching-hua.

Given the fact that the promotion case is now under investigation by prosecutors, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced that it had decided to postpone Huang’s promotion case indefinitely after Economic Affairs Minister Steven Chen held a meeting with his three Vice Ministers on the matter yesterday.

Regarding Huang’s bribery allegation, the Department of Government Ethics, MOEA, has finished the investigation and referred the case to the prosecutors, without publicizing the results. In addition, according to media reports, the Special Investigation Unit under the Prosecutor-General’s Office also decided to launch an investigation into the case yesterday.

Hsieh Fa-dah, Vice Minister of MOEA, said, “The Department of Government Ethics invited Huang Fu-yuan to give an explanation on the case yesterday; Huang still insisted that he did not send gifts, money, or kneel down to ask others to support him in the promotion case. Owing to the limit of MOEA’s authority, and the fact that Yao Chiang-lin and Huang Fu-yuan are both sticking to their own versions of the incident, the MOEA has decided to refer the entire case to the prosecutors for investigation.”

Earlier, Economic Affairs Minister Steve Chen had pointed his finger at TPC Chairman Edward Chen’s open defiance of the Executive Yuan’s order to promote Huang Fu-yuan to the position of TPC Vice President, regardless of Huang’s qualifications. When asked why he insisted on promoting Huang Fu-yuan, Economic Affairs Minister Steve Chen merely said that he was not acquainted with Huang Fu-yuan and that Huang had been recommended by people in political circles. KMT legislator Lee Ching-hua said during a press conference in the Legislative Yuan yesterday that the Minister’s statement was entirely unreasonable. Today, when asked by the legislators as to who recommended Huang during an interpellation in the Legislative Yuan, the Minister for the first time admitted that it was Chen Chin-jun, the Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan, who recommended Huang.

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