離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Sean Lien advisor linked to scandal
Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien, center, sings his campaign song at his campaign office in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA
By Alison Hsiao / Staff reporter
Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien’s （連勝文） campaign office said yesterday that it would consider terminating the appointment of Namchow Chemical Industrial Co Ltd （南僑化工） vice chairman Alfred Chen （陳飛龍） as its city administration advisor if it is confirmed that the company has been producing adulterated cooking oil.
In another perceived effort by the Lien camp to stanch the wound the food scandal has inflicted on the ruling party, Lien said that he would step down if he were the premier.
A day after Premier Jiang Yi-huah （江宜樺） said that Ting Hsin International Group （頂新集團） would probably not be the last food company to be caught producing tainted products, the Food and Drug Administration found inconsistencies in the quantity of cooking oil Namchow has for sale and the quantity of cooking oil listed on its import invoices.
Lien’s campaign office immediately released a statement acknowledging that Chen is one of the campaign team’s advisors, but said the office would not comment on the issue before the health agencies have finalized their investigation.
The spokesperson also said that Chen would be deprived of the position if it is confirmed that the company has been producing substandard cooking oil.
Namchow later denied the accusation by saying that all the oil the company has imported from Australia is of food-grade rather than for industrial use, and that inconsistencies in numbers were due to administrative mistakes.
Lien was also quick to deny earlier this week, after the eruption of the Ting Hsin oil scandal, that his family has been on good terms with the Wei （魏） family, who heads the Ting Hsin International Group.
Lien’s father, former vice president and erstwhile KMT chairman Lien Chan （連戰）, has been seen with Wei Ying-chun （魏應充） on various public occasions, while Sean Lien, along with many other prominent political and business figures, was a pre-market book-building investor in Ting Hsin’s Taiwan depositary receipts.
Meanwhile, Sean Lien yesterday said that his recent low poll numbers were a result of the food scandal and that they were affected by the “recent disruption in society.”
When asked about his campaign director Alex Tsai’s （蔡正元） call for Jiang’s resignation, Sean Lien said since Tsai is a KMT legislator who oversees the Executive Yuan, he could understand why Tsai made those remarks.
Sean Lien added he would leave if he were the premier and “could not in the short term table an effective measure to restore people’s confidence in food safety, or encounter a more serious food safety scandal in the near future.”
Tsai told Next Magazine and reiterated yesterday that it is almost unavoidable to have a Cabinet reshuffle and “Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin （郝龍斌）, who has [an academic] background in food safety [Hau was once a professor at National Taiwan University’s Institute of Food Science and Technology], would be the optimal [premier] candidate.”
Accusing the central and local governments of failing to effectively supervise upstream manufacturers who are not based in Taipei, which is the country’s largest terminal market, Tsai said related officials have to be held accountable after the crisis recedes.
“Jiang needs to take on the main responsibility and resign, at the very least,” Tsai said.
Sean Lien, not exactly in sync with Tsai, said he believes Hau would “hold on until the last day” of his term as Taipei mayor.
The Presidential Office released a statement later yesterday praising Jiang’s “responsible attitude and effective conducting of investigations and execution of food safety strengthening measures.”
The statement has been interpreted as demonstrating President Ma Ying-jeou’s （馬英九） strong support for Jiang in response to the call for the premier to step down.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
