By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Former Taipei EasyCard Corp chairman Sean Lien (連勝文), who yesterday announced his bid for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral primary, and his family members may have benefited from insider trading, political pundit Clara Chou (周玉蔻) said yesterday.
Chou, a News 98 radio show host, aired her allegations at a news conference in Taipei about half an hour before Lien’s own press conference to confirm his bid.
Lien endorsed Golden Meditech Holdings on Jan. 24, 2011, when the Chinese company began issuing Taiwan depositary receipts (TDR), and on Sept. 6 that year when it announced a cooperation deal with Taiwan Life and Long Bon International Co, Chou said.
Golden Meditec’s shares hit limit-up for eight straight trading days and saw a 67 percent increase in price after Lien’s initial endorsement, before dropping significantly until his second endorsement in September, Chou said.
Lien, founder of Hong Kong-based Evenstar Sub Fund, which held 6.84 percent of Meditech’s total shares, had promised when he made the endorsements that Meditech would invest in establishing hospitals in Taiwan, but the company has not been keen on investing in Taiwan since then, Chou said.
He also endorsed Intai Technology Corp, a medical equipment manufacturer that trades on the GRETAI Securities Market, which helped its share price advance from NT$72 to NT$100 before it dropped again, Chou said.
She said she had no way of knowing how much money Lien’s mother, Lien-Fang Yu (連方瑀), who reportedly has an extensive stock portfolio, his aides and his friends had made from the companies’ shares, but Sean Lien was obligated to offer his side of story now that he has formally announced he will seek the KMT nomination for the Taipei election.
“The problem with the Lien family is not how rich the family is, but how the family could increase its wealth in a short period through the ‘human resource network’ that Lien’s father, former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), has built up since he began his extensive visits to China after 2005,” Chou said.
Sean Lien needs to be asked to explain the origins of his family’s wealth and how he would handle relations with Beijing officials if he were elected mayor, Chou said, adding that she would “unearth more scandals about Sean Lien.”
At press time there had not been a response from Sean Lien’s camp to Chou’s allegations.