According to a September 29 report by Taiwan's United Daily News, former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Secretary-General and former chairman of Taiwan Sugar Corporation (Taisugar) Wu Nai-jen owes Taisugar NT$180 million and has failed to repay it. The two parties recently held a second round of negotiations, which focused on a repayment plan, but the details have not yet been made public.
Kuomintang (KMT) lawmaker Wang Hung-wei posted on Facebook on September 29 that the economic affairs department confirmed to her that Taisugar and Wu Nai-jen have not reached an agreement. She demanded that the head of the economic affairs department, Kung Ming-hsin, who oversees Taisugar, fulfill his supervisory duties — otherwise Taisugar should immediately apply to have Wu Nai-jen "sent back to detention."
According to Taiwanese media reports, Wu Nai-jen was previously convicted of breach of trust for selling Taisugar land at a low price, and together with interest, he owes Taisugar as much as NT$180 million, yet he has only repaid NT$7.5 million. Because he failed to repay on schedule and was photographed living a lavish lifestyle, Taisugar previously applied for his "custody and detention" (a civil compulsory enforcement measure that involves sending the debtor to a detention facility to restrict personal freedom and urge the debtor to fulfill repayment obligations, different from criminal imprisonment), which was approved. As a result, after Wu Nai-jen filed a protest and expressed willingness to negotiate with Taisugar, he was released after staying in the detention center for only 12 days.
On September 29, Wang Hung-wei disclosed the economic affairs department's response on this matter, saying that Taisugar and Wu Nai-jen had still not reached a repayment agreement. "This is truly absurd," Wang Hung-wei said. She noted that the economic affairs authorities and Taisugar previously stated during questioning that the two sides' lawyers had negotiated again in late August. Kung Ming-hsin also said that if the debtor does not come forward for negotiations, they would again apply to the judge for custody and detention, and Taisugar would use tough measures to recover the debt.
Wang Hung-wei mentioned in her post that during her earlier questioning, she revealed that Wu Nai-jen's side had apparently proposed repaying NT$50,000 per month, which at that rate would take 300 years to repay, shocking society. Now that the results are out, however, Taisugar has taken no action — are they really going to wait 300 years? She demanded that Kung Ming-hsin honor his promise, fulfill his supervisory duties, and promptly inform the public whether an agreement has been reached and what its contents are — otherwise Taisugar should immediately apply to have Wu Nai-jen taken into custody and sent back to detention.