‘CONCLAVE’:The ‘China Times’ ran a story on the minesweeper program without verifying it, the Presidential Office said, demanding a correction and an apology
Taipei Times
Date: Nov 15, 2017
By: Sean Lin and Chen Wei-han / Staff reporters
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) yesterday accused the
Kaohsiung City Marine Bureau Director-General Wang Tuan-jen is pictured in an undated photograph. Photo: CNA
Presidential Office of pressuring the Ministry of National Defense to pay Ching Fu Shipbuilding Co (慶富造船) NT$2.4 billion (US$79.52 million) months before the budget was set to be allocated so the company could carry out phase three of its plan to build minesweepers for the navy.
At a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Ma played a video showing Ching Fu vice president Chen Chih-wei (陳志偉) apparently telling Kaohsiung Marine Bureau Director-General Wang Tuan-jen (王端仁) and Fisheries Agency officials during a meeting on Oct. 7 last year that the ministry had initially turned down his request for payment and told him to wait until March, when the budget was to be approved.
Chen said in the video that he took the matter to the Presidential Office, as the ministry should have made the payment in September last year.
“Two days later, the Ministry of National Defense called me and said that they had received the money, which shows that the Presidential Office fully supports the project. Otherwise, it would turn out to be very ugly,” Chen said in the recording. [FULL STORY]
