Discount gas vouchers under scrutiny
07.09.2007, 09:02
Chinese Petroleum Corp., Taiwan (CPC) yesterday said it will investigate recent claims that its employees have been selling gas vouchers to another government-owned company at a 10 percent discount.
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Local media have reported that CPC employees were selling discounted gas vouchers to Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) employees at 10 percent off face value, less than the eight percent discount reserved for CPC employees.
CPC spokesperson Chiang Chung-chen confirmed that the CPC and AIDC are both looking into the legitimacy of the claims and that the CPC is collaborating fully with investigators and will forward the case to the courts if illegal transactions were uncovered.
An employee with AIDC told China Times that the sale of such vouchers has been ongoing "for several months." According to reports, AIDC employees can purchase the vouchers by placing an order prior to the 20th of every month, around which time a CPC staff will deliver the vouchers to the AIDC office and collect cash payment.
According to the AIDC employee, each voucher has a face value of NT$400 and has been fully redeemable at CPC gas stations.
Investigators have been puzzled as to why CPC employees would sell the vouchers below cost. Wu Chia-tung, a retired CPC employee who worked at the government enterprise for 10 years, told the China Times that employees used to get up to 15 percent off gas vouchers when "oil prices weren't so high." Wu suspected that the vouchers sold to AIDC employees were ones that had been purchased from CPC at much deeper discounts than the current eight percent.
CPC currently sells NT$400 million worth of vouchers every month. Gas vouchers sold to the public carry a discount of half of a percent for every NT$1 million purchased and a one percent discount for every NT$10 million.
Each CPC employee is entitled to 250 liters a month of gas vouchers at a discount of NT$2.58 per liter. The special discount is non-transferable, Chiang said.