VP lauds first lady over charity donation of profits

“It’s never too late to do good things,” Lu commented on Wu’s decision, made amid mounting criticisms that the first lady should not have continued investing in the stock and mutual fund markets after placing her assets in trusts.

Lu said now that Wu has decided to sell all of her stock and REIT holdings, the row should come to a close.

The Presidential Office Friday announced that Wu will have the trust manager sell all her stocks and REIT investments and donate the profits to charity and underprivileged groups.

The office said yesterday results of the selling, the sum and the beneficiaries of the donations will be made public this week.

Legislator Chiu Yi of the opposition Kuomintang Friday claimed that Wu made nearly NT$30 million in profits from her stock investments between 2004 and 2006.

Chiu said after checking Wu’s assets declaration with the Control Yuan, the profits had “vanished.”

Chiu claimed that before Wu put her assets into trusts in March 2004, she had NT$4 million in stock investments, NT$58 million in mutual fund holdings, and NT$15 million in bank deposits.

In 2005, she had only one fund left worth around NT$19 million, as well as stocks worth NT$12 million, and bank deposits of roughly the same amount as the previous year, Chiu said.

In 2006, Wu owned stocks worth NT$4 million, NT$40 million in the Fubon REITs No.1 fund, and her bank deposits amounted to only NT$1.2 million, Chiu pointed out.

Quoting the Control Yuan report, Chiu speculated that in 2005 Wu disposed of four types of mutual funds and should have made nearly NT$40 million.

Even if she bought stocks amounting to NT$8 million, her bank deposits did not show any marked increase, Chiu noted, questioning where all the money had gone. Chiu said although Wu has made a laudable decision to donate her profits to charities, the first lady owes the public a clear explanation of her transactions.

The first family put its assets into trust in April 2004 after the first lady was attacked for improperly engaging in stock trading during the run-up to the 2004 presidential election.

But her latest asset declaration has revealed that she continued investing in the stock market.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos Respond to this email