Ching Fu founder and president Chen Ching-nan (陳慶南) was quoted by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) as saying that he was mulling selling two-thirds of the company’s stock to the unidentified billionaire. Chen was quoted as saying that the billionaire expressed concern that the government’s indigenous shipbuilding program would suffer from the Ching Fu scandal and wanted to establish a professional team to take over the minesweeper project to ensure the success of the nation’s defense industry. As US defense giant Lockheed Martin, a subcontractor for the project, has already acquired an export permit from Italy’s Intermarine, the minesweeper project would be able to proceed if the deal goes through, Chen was quoted as saying. However, the ministry stood by its statement last month, saying that the contract would be terminated unless Ching Fu pays back NT$2.4 billion (US$79.9 million) by today and lays out a plan to overcome delays to scheduled work. The bottom line on Ching Fu is that it must make up for lost time and pay back its debts within the alloted time, the ministry said.

Source: Taipei Times December 07, 2017 15:56 UTC