Academia Sinica President Wong Chi-huey, who has been listed as defendant in a corruption case, denied any wrongdoings during his talk with President Ma Ying-jeou on Monday morning and did not tender his resignation.
Academia Sinica is the highest academic institution in Taiwan.
Prosecutors have named Wong as a defendant for breach of trust in a case that involved OBI Pharma, a Taiwan biotech company which had acquired biomedical technology assets from Academia Sinica for developing a new drug for treatment of breast cancer.
Wong had bought OBI Pharma shares for his daughter in 2012 after Academia Sinica transferred its technology to OBI Pharma in 2010, but sold a large portion of the shares before the negative clinical trial results of OBI Pharma’s new drug were announced in Feb. 2016.
Prosecutors said they named Wong as a defendant for breach of trust because they want to determine whether Wong’s handling of the technology transfer in the capacity of Academia Sinica president had profited himself and caused damage to Academia Sinica.
Prosecutors also said they want to determine whether Wong had received illegal benefits such as shares from OBI Pharma in return for handling the technology transfer.
Wong said in a letter to Ma, which Wong agreed to be publicized by the Office of the President, that he will not resign from his post for fear of causing personnel unrest in the institute, attracting international attention, and even affecting Taiwan’s international reputation.
As three candidates have been selected for the top position in Academia Sinica, Wong said he will authorize the institute’s vice president to handle important administrative matters for him and hand over to the new president when one is announced.
In the letter, Wong said he will cooperate with the investigation and vow to clear his name.
As pressure has been mounting for Wong to resign, Ma said earlier in the day that he hoped Wong to seriously reconsider his decision not to resign.
Wong denies wrongdoings and stays on: Presidential Office
