Kuan earned NT$16m illegally: Control Yuan

MOONLIGHTING: Control Yuan members said the NTU president had applied for approval for some jobs, but not others, which showed that he understood the rules

By Ann Maxon / Staff reporter





National Taiwan University (NTU) president Kuan Chun-ming (管中閔) received about NT$16 million (US$518,925) for illegally working part-time while serving as an Academia Sinica research fellow, NTU professor and minister without portfolio between 2002 and 2015, the Control Yuan said yesterday.

According to NTU regulations, teachers who accept outside jobs without the school’s approval could be fired, suspended, denied a contract renewal or deprived of certain benefits as a punishment, Control Yuan member Wang Yu-ling (王幼玲) told a news conference in Taipei.

The Control Yuan on Jan. 15 voted seven to four to impeach Kuan after an investigation found that he had received NT$50,000 per month for seven years for writing for a column in the Chinese-

Control Yuan members Tsai Chung-yi, left, and Wang Yu-ling, hold a news conference in Taipei yesterday on the earnings that National Taiwan University president Kuan Chun-ming made from illegal part-time work while serving as an Academia Sinica research fellow, a university professor and minister without portfolio. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

language Next Magazine while serving as a minister.

Under the Public Functionary Service Act (公務員服務法) and Act Governing the Appointment of Educators (教育人員任用條例), civil servants and public-school teachers are banned from accepting other jobs unless approved by their agency or school to prevent distractions from their public duties.

While the Judicial Yuan’s Public Functionary Disciplinary Sanction Commission has yet to decide whether to impeach Kuan, the Control Yuan yesterday announced more findings from its investigation.

While working as a professor at NTU’s Department of Finance from 2009 to 2017, Kuan took on unapproved part-time work at National Chengchi University (NCCU), National Central University (NCU), National Chi Nan University, the Chen-Yung Foundation, Hong Kong-based Next Digital Ltd’s Taiwan subsidiary, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, the Taiwan Econometric Research Society, the Cross-strait CEO Summit and Cathay Financial Holding Co, Wang said.

Some of the part-time work, such as that for Next Digital and Cathay Financial Holding, continued during his term as minister without portfolio from 2011 to 2015, but remained unreported, she said.

Kuan received an aggregate NT$7 million from Cathay Financial Holding alone, she said.

Although he worked for the company from 2009 to 2012 and from 2015 to 2017, he had only applied for and been granted permission to work there between 2009 and 2010, she said.

“That he did apply for permission on some occasions, but not others showed that he clearly understood it was required by law,” Control Yuan member Tsai Chung-yi (蔡崇義) said.

During his time at Academia Sinica from 2002 to 2008, Kuan also served as a part-time chair professor at NCCU and NCU, and did paid work for the Chen-Yung Foundation without the institute’s approval, Wang said.

In addition, Kuan in 2007 applied for US$357 from Academia Sinica to cover his three-day trip to China’s Xi’an Jiaotong University, even though the university stated in its invitation letter that it would cover all expenses for food and accommodation during that period, she said.

The Control Yuan has asked Academia Sinica to investigate the matter, she said, adding that it would ask the Ministry of Education to ensure that NTU handles Kuan’s illegal part-time work during his time as professor according to its regulations.

“As university president, Mr Kuan must handle the problems he caused when he was a professor,” she added.

“We are not targeting any individuals,” Tsai said. “Perhaps other people have done the same thing, but high-ranking government officials in particular are expected to obey the law. There would have been no problems if he had followed the law.”

NTU yesterday issued a brief statement saying it would handle the matter according to its regulations.

It added that it is in the process of setting down regulations governing the percentage of income its teachers should share with the university from their approved outside work.