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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Paper might reverse BCC land case: DPP lawmakers
DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin, left, holds up a document from 1952 that reportedly indicates that a property owned by Broadcasting Corp of China should be returned to the state, during a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） legislators yesterday revealed what they said was a classified document suggesting that a property owned by Broadcasting Corp of China （BCC） should be returned to the state.
The government in 1952 allocated a budget of NT$2.23 million （US$69,698 at the current exchange rate） to BCC to acquire a 9.7 hectare plot in Chiayi County’s Mingsyong Township （民雄）, as well as four other properties in Changhua County, Hualien and the then-Taipei County to disseminate anti-communist propaganda in cooperation with Western Enterprises, a paramilitary arm of the US CIA in Taiwan.
BCC retained ownership of the land well after its anti-communist mission terminated.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications took BCC to court in 2003, demanding that it return the properties to the state.
The Supreme Court in 2005 ruled in favor of BCC over the Mingsyong plot, saying the property was acquired with a government “subsidy” and a contract between BCC and the ministry had not stipulated how the property should be disposed of.
The Mingsyong case was the only lawsuit over the properties the ministry lost, as the court ruled that the radio station should hand over the four others to the ministry.
DPP legislators told a Taipei news conference that they had unearthed a classified document dating from February 1952, which they said could help the government regain ownership of the Mingsyong land.
The document, from the Executive Yuan to the ministry, said the NT$2.23 million fund was an “advance payment” to BCC to “expropriate” properties and conduct propaganda.
An advance payment is legally different from a subsidy, as it is like a loan the government makes to an agent to perform a task, which has to be repaid to the state, DPP Legislator Chiu Chih-wei （邱志偉） said.
“The terms ‘advance payment’ and ‘expropriation’ indicate that BCC was acquiring the properties on behalf of the ministry, instead of acting [on its own] with government subsidies,” DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin （鍾佳濱） said.
Only the government can expropriate properties, but BCC, a Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） affiliate, was able to expropriate land during the KMT’s authoritarian regime, Chung said.
“The terms apparently contradict the Supreme Court’s recognition of the fund as a subsidy, suggesting negligence on the part of the judges,” DPP Legislator Liu Shih-fang （劉世芳） said.
The lawmakers said they have asked the Executive Yuan’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee to review the 1952 document.
The committee is to hold a preparatory hearing next week to examine property sales by BCC and Central Motion Picture Corp, which was also owned by the KMT.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
