《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Lawmakers pan Eric Chu for return of illegal assets

By Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter

Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） legislators yesterday lashed out at Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Chairman and New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu’s （朱立倫） handling of the party’s assets, calling it an “insincere political show.”

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“People might think it is an act of goodwill for the KMT to announced the returning of 10 properties. However, if you look further into the list of illegitimate KMT assets, you would realize that it is an insincere political show,” DPP caucus whip Tsai Chi-chang （蔡其昌） told a news conference at the legislature.

“What the KMT owes the government is much more than these plots of land and buildings, and if Chu is serious about taking care of the party’s assets, the KMT caucus should stop boycotting the bill on such illegitimate assets,” Tsai added.

Tsai was referring to the KMT’s announcement that it would return 10 party properties — including six plots of land and four buildings — that belong to the government, but have been illegally occupied by the party since it moved to Taiwan after World War II.

Citing official figures from the National Property Administration （NPA）, Tsai said that the KMT occupies more than 1.1 million square meters of government land, valued at more than NT$6 billion （US$191.98 million）, yet the 10 properties to be returned account for only 1.47 percent of the total number.

DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher （黃偉哲） said that Chu has made the move to avoid controversy during a presidential bid, adding that “if Chu wants to gain admission to the presidential election by returning only 1 percent of the KMT’s illegitimate assets, the admission fee is certainly too cheap.”

“If Chu plans to hand back only 1 percent of the party’s assets upon declaring his candidacy, maybe he needs to run for president 99 more times to completely solve the problem,” Huang said.

KMT spokeswoman Lin Yi-hua （林奕華） accused the DPP of manipulating the facts to confuse the people.

“As of October last year, the KMT has returned a total of 217 properties — including 63 administered by the Executive Yuan and 154 by the Control Yuan — to the original owners and the NPA,” she told media in a separate setting. “Our actions show our hard work and the determination to take care of the controversial party properties.”

Lin said that since Chu had taken over as chairman of the KMT, he has asked KMT Legislator Liao Cheng-ching （廖正井） and former Council of Labor Affairs minister and attorney Jennifer Wang （王如玄） to examine all party assets.

In addition to the 10 properties that will be returned by July, the KMT would withdraw all lawsuits concerning its disputed assets, and return them accordingly, Lin said.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES