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Sunday, 2 March 2008
We Live in Singapura
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A Big-time Burmese Drug Trafficker’s Singaporean Connection
The US goes after a shady Burmese “businessman” and turns up the heat on his Singapore links also
Brian McCartan 29 February 2008
In an action that Burma watchers view as long overdue, the United States earlier this week slapped financial sanctions on wealthy Burmese businessman Lo Hsing Han, his US-educated son, Steven Law and Law’s wife, Cecilia Ng, a Singaporean businesswoman.
At least 10 Singaporean companies owned by Law’s wife have been targeted by the sanctions. Among other things, the sanctions point up the often-unhealthy way the Singaporean government chooses to ignore relationships between its financial community and unsavory Burmese businessmen. Because of the ties to Lo’s main corporate vehicle, Asia World Co. Ltd, the story also illustrates graphically the narco-state that Burma’s rulers have visited upon the world stage.
Asia World is targeted by sanctions also. And, included among the Singaporean companies owned by Ng is Golden Aaron Pte Ltd, which has been linked to the Chinese state-controlled oil and gas giant, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Under the sanctions, any bank accounts and financial assets the individuals or their companies hold in the United States are frozen and Americans are forbidden from doing business with them.
Asia World is considered to be Burma’s biggest and most diversified conglomerate. Lo is chairman and Steven Law is the company’s managing director. In a 1997 article, The Nation, a US magazine, described a web of connections between Asia World and the Singapore government, which “is directly connected to key business ventures of drug kingpin Lo” through a series of investments in the Myanmar Fund, including some by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC).
In a letter to the magazine the Singapore embassy in the US said that GIC was a passive investor in the Myanmar Fund and was not involved in investment decisions and that the Myanmar Fund had been wound up.
Asia World is involved in industrial investment, development, construction and transportation. It imports and distributes goods into Burma and owns a supermarket chain. It was recently involved in road construction from Pyin Oo Lwin in Shan State to the Chinese border, the renovation of Rangoon’s international airport and the construction of a deep water seaport at Ahlone near Rangoon. It was also one of two main contractors for the construction of the new capitol at Naypyidaw. In 2001 the company’s authorized capitol was given at about US$40 million.
Rangoon’s port, which handles 40 percent of Burma’s container traffic, is also run by Asia World which also operates a cargo and shipping business from the port. This and Lo’s ownership of Burma’s largest bus company has led some to speculate about whether he is using the facilities for continued drug trafficking.
Lo and Steven Law were refused visas to travel to the US as long ago as 1996 for suspected drug trafficking activities. The property interests of Golden Aaron are now reportedly blocked.
These moves follow sanctions earlier this month against the business empire of Burmese tycoon Tay Za and 33 other Burmese generals and business people and 11 companies which have had their assets frozen and were denied travel to the US. This is the latest in an ongoing series of financial sanctions aimed at hurting Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council through its business contacts.
“Unless the ruling junta in Burma halts the violent suppression of its peoples, we will continue to target those like Steven Law who sustain and who profit corruptly because of that support,” said Stuart Levy, Treasury Department Under-Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
According to the Treasury Department, “In addition to their support for the Burmese regime, Steven Law and Lo Hsing Han have a history of involvement in illicit activities. Lo, known as the ‘Godfather of Heroin,’ has been one of the world’s key heroin traffickers dating back to the early 1970s. Law joined his father’s drug empire in the 1990s and has since become one of the wealthiest individuals in Burma.”
The saga of how Lo and his son acquired their fortune and the outward trappings of respectability has many twists and turns including several brushes with death. Lo, 70 or 73 years old depending on the source, began in the drug trade in 1960 when he organized a local militia in the Kokang area of Shan State. The government turned a blind eye to Lo’s drug trafficking in exchange for his assistance in fighting Shan insurgents. He was dubbed the “King of Opium” by US authorities in the 1970s.
His fortunes then changed. Thai police arrested Lo in 1973 and deported him back to Burma, where he was found guilty of rebellion and sentenced to death. However, he was given amnesty in 1980, and he moved back to Shan State where he built his headquarters at Salween Village near Nampawng southwest of Lashio. He immediately reestablished himself with a new militia and resumed his role in the drug trade.
The wisdom behind granting Lo amnesty was borne out when Lt General Khin Nyunt used him as a go-between in 1989 in arranging ceasefires with Kokang and Wa insurgents who had recently mutinied against their Burmese Communist Party leaders. In exchange, according to a memo from the Thai Office of Narcotics Control Board in 1993, Khin Nyunt gave Lo the right “to smuggle heroin from the Kokang Group to Tachilek [on the border with Thailand] without interception.” By 1994 he controlled what was regarded as the most heavily armed drug trafficking organization in Southeast Asia.
Lo also gained unfettered access to the Burmese economy for his part in the ceasefire deals. This was further enhanced when in the early 1990s, with the Burmese economy on the brink of collapse, the generals turned to traffickers to invest their money in legal and semi-legal businesses. A “whitening” tax of 40 percent, later reduced to 25 percent, was levied on funds repatriated from bank accounts in Bangkok and Singapore. It was also at this time, on June 5, 1992, that Lo set up Asia World.
Law enforcement officials say indications are that since the mid-1990s Lo has stepped back from direct involvement in the drug trade, although he does reportedly maintain contacts, and that has not stopped western law enforcement agencies from trying to find evidence of his continued role, so far without success.
Lo’s business empire, international observers believe, is built on the profits from his drug trafficking activities. These businesses and his money have proved invaluable to the junta.
Lo has maintained strong relations with Burma’s ruling generals. At Steven Law and Cecilia Ng’s 1996 wedding, among the guests was then-Hotels and Tourism Minister Lt General Kyaw Ba as well as three other generals and four cabinet ministers. Lo also organized the catering for the extravagant wedding party thrown for the daughter of Burma’s Senior General Than Shwe in 2006. Despite Lo’s relations with Khin Nyunt, he was notably unaffected when the general was placed under house arrest in 2004.
Lo also has been described by government figures as the most prominent partner for foreigners wishing to invest in Burma, with a massive amount of the joint venture investment done through Asia World. For example, an agreement to import cooking oil from companies controlled by Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok reportedly has grown into very lucrative real estate and construction deals, including the construction of the Trader’s Hotel in Rangoon, in which Asia World holds shares.
Another joint venture was with Sinmardev International Pte Ltd of Singapore. Headed by Albert Hong, Sinmardev was a consortium of Singaporean and other companies that built a US$207 million industrial park and port on the outskirts of Rangoon. Asia World contracted for part of the construction and holds shares in the project along with the members of the junta and several international investors.
Steven Law, who also goes by Tun Myint Naing, is the managing director of Golden Aaron, which has now been linked to CNOOC. The link was spotted by David Webb, a business commentator and non-executive director of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The relationship goes back to an October 2004 production-sharing contract between Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and a business group formed by CNOOC Myanmar, Golden Aaron and China Huanqui Contracting and Engineering Corp to explore for oil and gas in Kyaukphyu township of Rakhine State.
According to the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper, the signing ceremony was attended by CNOOC chairman Fu Chengyu and Golden Aaron director Chua Chay Jin.
CNOOC’s 2004 annual report listed itself as the operator of a joint venture with Golden Aaron and China Global Engineering Corp. through which it owns five exploration licenses covering 73,152 square kilometers. The licenses will run out on March 12, 2008 unless they are renewed. The gas deposits are part of the controversial Shwe gas project which is to include a gas pipeline through Burma to China. Human rights organizations have frequently cited abuses related to the project and have called for its cancellation.
The US sanctions may also have an effect on Singapore. The island republic has long been accused of being a shopping and financial center for Burmese generals and narcotics traffickers. Former US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Robert Gelbard, said in 1997, “since 1998 over half of [the investments from] Singapore have been tied to the family of narco-trafficker Lo Hsing Han.”
Singaporean banks have been repeatedly accused of being used for money laundering by Burmese narcotics traffickers. Although Singapore does have what are considered by the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering effective anti-money laundering mechanisms, the fact that figures such as Lo and Law are able to continue to do business there and keep banks accounts has prompted much speculation. In a recent step to detect money laundering, the Singaporean police announced that after 1 November 2007, anyone carrying or transferring more than $20,650 would be required to submit a report to the immigration authorities.
Whether or not the money is from drug profits, it is being used to finance investment in Burma that the US and international observers claim prop up the regime. While US financial sanctions are not aimed directly at Singapore or its banks, the hint is there that by dealing with individuals and firms on the sanctions list, the banks risk bad publicity.
Although the Money Authority of Singapore is unlikely to advise banks to cut ties with Burmese firms as a result of the US sanctions, some analysts believe Singaporean banks are taking steps to restrict their links to Burmese companies. The refusal of Singaporean banks to deal with Burmese tycoon Tay Za’s Air Bagan airline is seen as a possible example of this. In addition, in late October 2007 the Irrawaddy magazine reported that bank transfers between United Overseas Bank of Singapore and Burma had been suspended temporarily. The risks to their banking relationships with the US may be forcing Singaporean banks to re-evaluate doing business with Burmese firms.
**************
March 1, 2008
Comments :
Pragmatic and Opportunistic : Adam Smith
I find it hard to reconcile a squeaky clean country with its not so principled approach to dirty money and dictators. This is the ugly and opportunistic face of Singapore.
It is the Dr Jerkyll and Mr Hyde nature of the island nation that dissappoints. It undermines all that the nation stands for and reinforces the negative image of Chinese as greedy and slaves to money.
The sad bit is Singapore does not need dirty money. But dirty money from Indonesia did flow into the country after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and Singaporean companies are among the high rollers in Burma. Such a pity. When I was beginning to think Asia has some bright spots it saddens me to know that Singapore is like all the rest - without principles, pragmatic, opportunistic, and shamelessly in bed with bad company.
Taipei, Nov. 23, 2006 (CENS)--For the second time, Jeffrey Koo Jr., vice chairman of Chinatrust Financial Holding, failed to show up at the Taipei prosecutors` office yesterday (Nov. 22) for the investigation session concerning dubious practice of Chinatrust in its takeover bid for Mega Financial Holding, as a result of which the prosecutor in charge may issue a warrant for his arrest or put him on the wanted list soon.
Koo`s lawyer reported to the prosecutors` office on his behalf yesterday, delivering a letter which requested permission of absence so that he could take care of his children in Japan. The prosecutors` office informed the lawyer of its decision to turn down the request later on. This was the second time for Koo failing to respond to the prosecutor`s subpoena for violation of the Financial Holding Law and the Banking Law, following the first investigation session on Nov. 7, when Koo requested permission of absence for engaging in Eisenhower Fellowship activities in the U.S.
The prosecutor`s office pointed out that the prosecutor in charge has listed Koo as a defendant in the case, as Koo is the mastermind behind the project. In late October, Koo expressed via his lawyer his willingness to return to Taiwan and report to the prosecutors` office on Nov. 7, only to reverse his decision following the discovery by the prosecutor of Chinatrust employees` attempt to eliminate related evidences on Nov. 3.
The case appears to have disrupted the plan of Jeffery Koo, chairman of Chinatrust and father of Jeffrey Koo Jr., to hand over the helm of the giant financial group to his offspring. In fact, the former has gradually relinquished majority of his responsibilities, following assumption of the presidency of Chinatrust Bank by Jeffrey Koo Jr., his eldest son, seven years ago. The younger Koo later became chairman of the bank, being the youngest chairman of domestic banks ever.
Angelo J.Y. Koo, president of China Development Financial Holding and Jeffrey Koo`s second eldest son, is being mired in legal dispute, too, associated with the China Development`s dubious practices in several takeover cases.
Chen Chun-tse, general manager for corporate banking, Chinatrust Bank, is also staying abroad for his involvement in the takeover bid for Mega.
Andre J.L. Koo, chairman of Chailease Finance Group and Jeffrey Koo`s youngest son, appears to be the one among the latter`s offspring with the most stable business career.
To stabilize the operation of Chinatrust Group, Jeffrey Koo has resumed management of the group and summoned some of his managers in the past to help him.
2 comments:
A Big-time Burmese Drug Trafficker’s Singaporean Connection
The US goes after a shady Burmese “businessman” and turns up the heat on his Singapore links also
Brian McCartan
29 February 2008
In an action that Burma watchers view as long overdue, the United States earlier this week slapped financial sanctions on wealthy Burmese businessman Lo Hsing Han, his US-educated son, Steven Law and Law’s wife, Cecilia Ng, a Singaporean businesswoman.
At least 10 Singaporean companies owned by Law’s wife have been targeted by the sanctions. Among other things, the sanctions point up the often-unhealthy way the Singaporean government chooses to ignore relationships between its financial community and unsavory Burmese businessmen. Because of the ties to Lo’s main corporate vehicle, Asia World Co. Ltd, the story also illustrates graphically the narco-state that Burma’s rulers have visited upon the world stage.
Asia World is targeted by sanctions also. And, included among the Singaporean companies owned by Ng is Golden Aaron Pte Ltd, which has been linked to the Chinese state-controlled oil and gas giant, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Under the sanctions, any bank accounts and financial assets the individuals or their companies hold in the United States are frozen and Americans are forbidden from doing business with them.
Asia World is considered to be Burma’s biggest and most diversified conglomerate. Lo is chairman and Steven Law is the company’s managing director. In a 1997 article, The Nation, a US magazine, described a web of connections between Asia World and the Singapore government, which “is directly connected to key business ventures of drug kingpin Lo” through a series of investments in the Myanmar Fund, including some by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC).
In a letter to the magazine the Singapore embassy in the US said that GIC was a passive investor in the Myanmar Fund and was not involved in investment decisions and that the Myanmar Fund had been wound up.
Asia World is involved in industrial investment, development, construction and transportation. It imports and distributes goods into Burma and owns a supermarket chain. It was recently involved in road construction from Pyin Oo Lwin in Shan State to the Chinese border, the renovation of Rangoon’s international airport and the construction of a deep water seaport at Ahlone near Rangoon. It was also one of two main contractors for the construction of the new capitol at Naypyidaw. In 2001 the company’s authorized capitol was given at about US$40 million.
Rangoon’s port, which handles 40 percent of Burma’s container traffic, is also run by Asia World which also operates a cargo and shipping business from the port. This and Lo’s ownership of Burma’s largest bus company has led some to speculate about whether he is using the facilities for continued drug trafficking.
Lo and Steven Law were refused visas to travel to the US as long ago as 1996 for suspected drug trafficking activities. The property interests of Golden Aaron are now reportedly blocked.
These moves follow sanctions earlier this month against the business empire of Burmese tycoon Tay Za and 33 other Burmese generals and business people and 11 companies which have had their assets frozen and were denied travel to the US. This is the latest in an ongoing series of financial sanctions aimed at hurting Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council through its business contacts.
“Unless the ruling junta in Burma halts the violent suppression of its peoples, we will continue to target those like Steven Law who sustain and who profit corruptly because of that support,” said Stuart Levy, Treasury Department Under-Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.
According to the Treasury Department, “In addition to their support for the Burmese regime, Steven Law and Lo Hsing Han have a history of involvement in illicit activities. Lo, known as the ‘Godfather of Heroin,’ has been one of the world’s key heroin traffickers dating back to the early 1970s. Law joined his father’s drug empire in the 1990s and has since become one of the wealthiest individuals in Burma.”
The saga of how Lo and his son acquired their fortune and the outward trappings of respectability has many twists and turns including several brushes with death. Lo, 70 or 73 years old depending on the source, began in the drug trade in 1960 when he organized a local militia in the Kokang area of Shan State. The government turned a blind eye to Lo’s drug trafficking in exchange for his assistance in fighting Shan insurgents. He was dubbed the “King of Opium” by US authorities in the 1970s.
His fortunes then changed. Thai police arrested Lo in 1973 and deported him back to Burma, where he was found guilty of rebellion and sentenced to death. However, he was given amnesty in 1980, and he moved back to Shan State where he built his headquarters at Salween Village near Nampawng southwest of Lashio. He immediately reestablished himself with a new militia and resumed his role in the drug trade.
The wisdom behind granting Lo amnesty was borne out when Lt General Khin Nyunt used him as a go-between in 1989 in arranging ceasefires with Kokang and Wa insurgents who had recently mutinied against their Burmese Communist Party leaders. In exchange, according to a memo from the Thai Office of Narcotics Control Board in 1993, Khin Nyunt gave Lo the right “to smuggle heroin from the Kokang Group to Tachilek [on the border with Thailand] without interception.” By 1994 he controlled what was regarded as the most heavily armed drug trafficking organization in Southeast Asia.
Lo also gained unfettered access to the Burmese economy for his part in the ceasefire deals. This was further enhanced when in the early 1990s, with the Burmese economy on the brink of collapse, the generals turned to traffickers to invest their money in legal and semi-legal businesses. A “whitening” tax of 40 percent, later reduced to 25 percent, was levied on funds repatriated from bank accounts in Bangkok and Singapore. It was also at this time, on June 5, 1992, that Lo set up Asia World.
Law enforcement officials say indications are that since the mid-1990s Lo has stepped back from direct involvement in the drug trade, although he does reportedly maintain contacts, and that has not stopped western law enforcement agencies from trying to find evidence of his continued role, so far without success.
Lo’s business empire, international observers believe, is built on the profits from his drug trafficking activities. These businesses and his money have proved invaluable to the junta.
Lo has maintained strong relations with Burma’s ruling generals. At Steven Law and Cecilia Ng’s 1996 wedding, among the guests was then-Hotels and Tourism Minister Lt General Kyaw Ba as well as three other generals and four cabinet ministers. Lo also organized the catering for the extravagant wedding party thrown for the daughter of Burma’s Senior General Than Shwe in 2006. Despite Lo’s relations with Khin Nyunt, he was notably unaffected when the general was placed under house arrest in 2004.
Lo also has been described by government figures as the most prominent partner for foreigners wishing to invest in Burma, with a massive amount of the joint venture investment done through Asia World. For example, an agreement to import cooking oil from companies controlled by Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok reportedly has grown into very lucrative real estate and construction deals, including the construction of the Trader’s Hotel in Rangoon, in which Asia World holds shares.
Another joint venture was with Sinmardev International Pte Ltd of Singapore. Headed by Albert Hong, Sinmardev was a consortium of Singaporean and other companies that built a US$207 million industrial park and port on the outskirts of Rangoon. Asia World contracted for part of the construction and holds shares in the project along with the members of the junta and several international investors.
Steven Law, who also goes by Tun Myint Naing, is the managing director of Golden Aaron, which has now been linked to CNOOC. The link was spotted by David Webb, a business commentator and non-executive director of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The relationship goes back to an October 2004 production-sharing contract between Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise and a business group formed by CNOOC Myanmar, Golden Aaron and China Huanqui Contracting and Engineering Corp to explore for oil and gas in Kyaukphyu township of Rakhine State.
According to the official New Light of Myanmar newspaper, the signing ceremony was attended by CNOOC chairman Fu Chengyu and Golden Aaron director Chua Chay Jin.
CNOOC’s 2004 annual report listed itself as the operator of a joint venture with Golden Aaron and China Global Engineering Corp. through which it owns five exploration licenses covering 73,152 square kilometers. The licenses will run out on March 12, 2008 unless they are renewed. The gas deposits are part of the controversial Shwe gas project which is to include a gas pipeline through Burma to China. Human rights organizations have frequently cited abuses related to the project and have called for its cancellation.
The US sanctions may also have an effect on Singapore. The island republic has long been accused of being a shopping and financial center for Burmese generals and narcotics traffickers. Former US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Robert Gelbard, said in 1997, “since 1998 over half of [the investments from] Singapore have been tied to the family of narco-trafficker Lo Hsing Han.”
Singaporean banks have been repeatedly accused of being used for money laundering by Burmese narcotics traffickers. Although Singapore does have what are considered by the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering effective anti-money laundering mechanisms, the fact that figures such as Lo and Law are able to continue to do business there and keep banks accounts has prompted much speculation. In a recent step to detect money laundering, the Singaporean police announced that after 1 November 2007, anyone carrying or transferring more than $20,650 would be required to submit a report to the immigration authorities.
Whether or not the money is from drug profits, it is being used to finance investment in Burma that the US and international observers claim prop up the regime. While US financial sanctions are not aimed directly at Singapore or its banks, the hint is there that by dealing with individuals and firms on the sanctions list, the banks risk bad publicity.
Although the Money Authority of Singapore is unlikely to advise banks to cut ties with Burmese firms as a result of the US sanctions, some analysts believe Singaporean banks are taking steps to restrict their links to Burmese companies. The refusal of Singaporean banks to deal with Burmese tycoon Tay Za’s Air Bagan airline is seen as a possible example of this. In addition, in late October 2007 the Irrawaddy magazine reported that bank transfers between United Overseas Bank of Singapore and Burma had been suspended temporarily. The risks to their banking relationships with the US may be forcing Singaporean banks to re-evaluate doing business with Burmese firms.
**************
March 1, 2008
Comments :
Pragmatic and Opportunistic : Adam Smith
I find it hard to reconcile a squeaky clean country with its not so principled approach to dirty money and dictators. This is the ugly and opportunistic face of Singapore.
It is the Dr Jerkyll and Mr Hyde nature of the island nation that dissappoints. It undermines all that the nation stands for and reinforces the negative image of Chinese as greedy and slaves to money.
The sad bit is Singapore does not need dirty money. But dirty money from Indonesia did flow into the country after the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis and Singaporean companies are among the high rollers in Burma. Such a pity. When I was beginning to think Asia has some bright spots it saddens me to know that Singapore is like all the rest - without principles, pragmatic, opportunistic, and shamelessly in bed with bad company.
SGX-listed company, Financial one
中租迪和 擬赴星上市
經濟日報/記者陳宥臻報導
2007/06/01
中租迪和將朝新加坡發展，消息來源指出，中租迪和已完成與外商銀行的股權交換，並向新加坡金融局送件，申請赴新加坡掛牌上市。
中租集團董事長辜仲立的關係企業中租迪和，是國內租賃業龍頭，在台灣未上市、櫃，但透過與英屬蓋曼群島商Financial one公司以股換股的方式，即將在新加坡掛牌上市。
據了解，中租迪和在去年董事會即通過此案，經過一年的努力，終於在今年5月30日正式與外商完成換股，換股比例為1：1，並於當天向新加坡金融局送件。
相關人士指出，向新加坡主管機關申請後，需要揭露一段時間，讓有關當局評估有無異議，才可獲得核准，如果過程順利，最快在兩、三個月內可定案，屆時將以Financial one公司的名義，在新加坡掛牌上市。
據了解，當初中租迪和希望從租賃公司轉型為大型融資公司，但礙於國內法令，無法解套，所以才透過與外商換股、赴新加坡掛牌上市，得以順利轉型。
此外，中租迪和並未選擇香港掛牌，也是看好新加坡具備國際金融中心特性，能扮演好籌措國際資金的角色，在延續既有的本業外，還能跨足其他國際市場。
**************
接手中信金？ 辜仲立否認
記者李靚慧／台北報導
2007年3月16日
中信辜家老大辜仲諒，因兆豐金案遭檢調通緝，經營中租迪和十年、成績有目共睹的老三辜仲立，是否會接手協助中信金，頗受外界關注；辜仲立昨日明確否認此一揣測，強調「中租是我的未來」。
中租是他的未來
中租迪和今年將歡慶成立30週年，也是辜仲立接手中租的第十年，中租預計最快在今年第三季、最晚約第四季於新加坡首次掛牌上市。辜仲立昨日公開否認可能接手協助中信金的揣測，也對中租今年的發展樂觀預期。
辜仲立昨日指出，他接手中租的十年間，經歷了非常艱苦的企業改造過程，因為在改造的過程中，他必須給予高階主管「改變的機會」，調整以往吃大鍋飯的心態與觀念，經由溝通的過程，讓主管的觀念慢慢改變過來。雖然過程艱苦，但因為執行企業改造，中租在過去的六、七年裡，每年的獲利都有二位數的成長。
辜仲立表示，中租去年起加強風險管理，預期今年的利潤與表現會比去年更好，他更希望在未來的五年、十年，中租還是往此方向走。
在中租的營運已上軌道之際，辜家老大辜仲諒負責的中信金控，卻因為投資兆豐金而官司纏身，二哥辜仲也因為開發金的經營權之爭無暇他顧。辜仲立昨日強調，「中租是我的未來」，他的父親辜濂松從未開口要他回去幫忙，他也相信中信金有許多非常能幹的人才，中長期的發展應該不會有問題。
辜仲立指出，近來他只要有空，就會回家陪老爸吃飯。他強調，「我父親的領導能力一流」，身邊都有許多老部屬忠心跟隨，而且他父親也了解，30年的中租也該有正確的方向，未來的規劃還需要一段時間，他必須與夥伴們一同努力，創造更好的未來。
面對外界對他的關注焦點，總集中在「辜家之子」上，辜仲立強調，不管生在哪個家庭、不管是不是辜家，任何人來到這個世界，「都有自己使命與責任」。
辜仲立以少見的「感性」語氣表示，「我愛我的父母親」、「我是他們創造出來的，一輩子都無法回報他們什麼」。對於父親辜濂松創設的中租迪和，最後交到他的手中，辜仲立強調，「父親交給我，我就要把它做好，才不會辜負自己的使命」。
對於滯留海外數月大哥辜仲諒，最近是否有他的消息？辜仲立表示，他並沒有跟他哥哥聯絡。
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辜仲立 重視家庭 融入企業經營
經濟日報/黃國棟
2007/01/18
租賃業算是金融業的周邊產業，由於融資法遲遲無法立法，使得租賃公司想轉型為融資公司的大計遲遲難以實現，身為國內租賃龍頭的中租迪和，決定另闢蹊徑，透過在新加坡掛牌上市，解開束縛。中租企業團董事長辜仲立正試圖帶領這家公司再次蛻變。
辜仲立在家中排行老三，雖然不像兩個哥哥中信金副董事長辜仲諒、開發金控總經理辜仲瑩這麼出名，但八年前接下中租企業團後，經營得有聲有色，並整合旗下關係企業，打造出近似「金控」雛型的中租企業團。
辜仲立接手後，中租企業團資產總額從1998年的500億元，竄升到今年上半年的1,000億元，遠遠超過當初預期目標，去年稅後純益激增至10億元，創中租29年來新高。
個性穩紮穩打的辜仲立，表現在企業經營上也有著同樣風格。他把眼光放遠海外，在一步步為在台業務扎根的同時，也多次向國內申請上市、櫃，只是受限法令與整體大環境尚未成熟，迄未能竟功。
辜仲立接棒中租企業團後，先是致力重振中租迪和低迷的獲利，他在一手推動組織改造的同時，也首度併購國外企業，在2002年時把據點擴展至美國洛杉磯、紐約，分別成立洛杉磯中租金融公司與紐約中租金融公司，營業範疇從「租賃本業」拓展至「商業不動產」。
辜仲立最感到驕傲的表現是，中租早在2001年時就跨入美國資本市場，首次發行1.1億美元的資產證券化商品；並在2003年再次以商業不動產為標的，完成1.4億美元的證券化籌資。
除了看好美國市場外，辜仲立也瞄準菲律賓、泰國與大陸。其中，泰國子公司亞洲興業租賃已於去年在泰國曼谷掛牌，這是中租首家在海外上市的子公司，主要業務鎖定汽車貸款業務。
緊接著，今年7月獲得大陸官方核准，以獨資方式在上海設立上海仲利國際租賃公司，初期以機器設備租賃業務為主，鎖定台商市場。辜仲立交出了第三張的海外成績單。
辜仲立年近不惑，給人的第一印象卻仍像是個大孩子。他愛看電影，說起「王牌大賤諜」，還興奮地直說這部片真的很好笑，可惜台灣民眾不見得都懂得英國式的幽默。個性坦率，辜仲立不但展現出穩健的領導風格，重視家庭、親子的性格，也反映在中租企業團旗下的關係企業文化中。
一位從「老董事長」辜濂松時代就在中租服務的主管說，「辜仲立把老董事長重視家庭的觀念，發揮在企業經營。他推動的員工家庭日，也讓員工的家人可以瞭解公司文化。」
辜仲立更常利用假期與公司主管交心。他常把主管邀到家中，並親自下廚款待，這種沒有架子又易親近的作風，讓員工都願意為公司打拚賣力。
根據聯合人力網去年的一項統計，中租迪和是應屆大學生最想進入金融業中第一名的公司，打敗其他金控、銀行、證券與保險公司，這也顯示了中租這些年的努力並未白費。
辜仲立小檔案 (Andre J.L. Koo)
出生：1967年生
學歷：西點軍校高中部、美國紐約大學 M
BA、美國康乃爾大學旅館管理碩士
經歷：1998年管理中信集團在美六家旅館
、中租企業團主任祕書、中租企業
團執行長、中國人壽董事長
興趣：打高爾夫球、馬術、下廚
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Prosecutor to Put Jeffrey Koo Jr. on Wanted List
By Philip
Taipei, Nov. 23, 2006 (CENS)--For the second time, Jeffrey Koo Jr., vice chairman of Chinatrust Financial Holding, failed to show up at the Taipei prosecutors` office yesterday (Nov. 22) for the investigation session concerning dubious practice of Chinatrust in its takeover bid for Mega Financial Holding, as a result of which the prosecutor in charge may issue a warrant for his arrest or put him on the wanted list soon.
Koo`s lawyer reported to the prosecutors` office on his behalf yesterday, delivering a letter which requested permission of absence so that he could take care of his children in Japan. The prosecutors` office informed the lawyer of its decision to turn down the request later on. This was the second time for Koo failing to respond to the prosecutor`s subpoena for violation of the Financial Holding Law and the Banking Law, following the first investigation session on Nov. 7, when Koo requested permission of absence for engaging in Eisenhower Fellowship activities in the U.S.
The prosecutor`s office pointed out that the prosecutor in charge has listed Koo as a defendant in the case, as Koo is the mastermind behind the project. In late October, Koo expressed via his lawyer his willingness to return to Taiwan and report to the prosecutors` office on Nov. 7, only to reverse his decision following the discovery by the prosecutor of Chinatrust employees` attempt to eliminate related evidences on Nov. 3.
The case appears to have disrupted the plan of Jeffery Koo, chairman of Chinatrust and father of Jeffrey Koo Jr., to hand over the helm of the giant financial group to his offspring. In fact, the former has gradually relinquished majority of his responsibilities, following assumption of the presidency of Chinatrust Bank by Jeffrey Koo Jr., his eldest son, seven years ago. The younger Koo later became chairman of the bank, being the youngest chairman of domestic banks ever.
Angelo J.Y. Koo, president of China Development Financial Holding and Jeffrey Koo`s second eldest son, is being mired in legal dispute, too, associated with the China Development`s dubious practices in several takeover cases.
Chen Chun-tse, general manager for corporate banking, Chinatrust Bank, is also staying abroad for his involvement in the takeover bid for Mega.
Andre J.L. Koo, chairman of Chailease Finance Group and Jeffrey Koo`s youngest son, appears to be the one among the latter`s offspring with the most stable business career.
To stabilize the operation of Chinatrust Group, Jeffrey Koo has resumed management of the group and summoned some of his managers in the past to help him.
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