The internal trade probe of Taiwanese vaccine authors finds broader issues

The internal trade probe of a Taiwanese creator of Covid-19 vaccines has raised broader concerns over the country’s financial oversight and has confused President Tsai-ing Wen’s administration.

The Shilin district Taipei court office told the Financial Times that Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corporation is investigating the company’s shares after falling more than 20 percent before announcing positive results for the phase 2 clinical trials of the vaccine in June. The prosecutor declined to give further details about the investigation.

Last month, Tsai gave a TV address in which he dismissed allegations of political opponents because his government had blocked vaccine imports to raise the price of Medigen shares.

The probe opens another front for Tsai’s political rivals to attack the president as he tries to defend pressure from outside China.

Only 8.2% of Taiwan’s population has received its first blow, and the government has agreed to buy 5 million vaccines from Medigen in an attempt to address the shortage blamed on Taipei China. blocking the purchase of doses made abroad.

“We’ve done some internal research, and there’s no evidence that the government or its staff are speculating [on] stocka, ”Tsai said in his speech. The Taiwanese Ministry of Finance later said that none of the eight government-backed banks had bought shares in Medig before the sudden jump.

Tsai urged citizens to be wary of false news about the vaccine campaign proliferated in the Taiwanese media as the country entered a soft blockade in early May due to a domestic outbreak.

But the probe has made clear the prevalence of stock manipulation in Taiwan, where financial regulators often lack the legal authority to resort to force. “Medigen’s case is highly political,” said Wang Wen-Yeu, a professor of capital markets law at the National University of Taiwan. “But the practice of domestic trade is widespread in Taiwan.”

Wang pointed to a notable case cited by Ko Wen-chang, a former Taiwanese MP from Hewlett-Packard. Ko was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2015 after learning that a stock in a Taiwanese company would be acquired by a larger U.S. group.

Lin Shu-Yu, a CLSA brokerage analyst, added that “everyone in the financial industry knows that domestic trade and stock manipulation is a problem.” It is common for listed small companies for employees, financial intermediaries, and journalists to buy shares with regular family and friends brokerage accounts before they can yield positive economic results.

“Citizens do not have much confidence in the government’s ability to control this sector,” Line added.

Lawyers say part of the problem is that the Taiwan Financial Supervision Commission has no jurisdiction in cases of trafficking in wealth.

Instead, the cases are in the hands of local prosecutors who “do not have the financial background to properly prosecute,” Wang said.

Lawyers for Wu Huan-Ting of California, Nolan Barton and Olmos, have stated that the conviction rate for domestic transactions is less than 40%.

Officials say Taiwan’s approach calls for a greater burden of proof.

“There are some problems in Taiwan in insider trading, but I don’t think it’s particularly serious compared to other countries,” said Cindy Chang, president of the government’s Center for Securities and Future Investor Protection.

Some point to the contrast between Taiwan’s financial industry and cutting-edge technology companies semiconductors.

“Taiwan’s financial markets have a long way to go,” said law professor Wang. “They’re behind the high-tech sector – it’s related to a lack of discipline.”

Medigen did not respond to a request for comment.