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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 KMT calls an international news meeting over assets
Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Vice Chairman Jason Hu yesterday holds an international news conference in Taipei to clarify the issue of the KMT’s assets. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
By Chen Wei-han / Staff reporter
The Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） yesterday called an international news conference and questioned the legality of the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, saying that it is an unconstitutional body that should be dissolved.
The KMT proposed that the committee be dissolved and that the issue of party assets be handled by the judiciary.
“The judiciary has the legal capacity to adjudicate all disputes surrounding the issue of party assets without having to establish a new government agency,” KMT Vice Chairman Jason Hu （胡志強） said.
Hu called for the immediate resignation of committee Chairman Wellington Koo （顧立雄）, who the party said was responsible for the committee’s questionable actions.
After it froze two KMT bank accounts and nine checks, the committee told the party to downsize its staff as a prerequisite for lifting the freeze, Hu said, accusing the committee of attempting to dictate the size of a political party.
“Even if the majority of people want the government to do something [about the KMT’s assets], the government has to do it legally, properly and constitutionally,” Hu said.
The government could legislate an act on political parties to replace the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations （政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例） — a law that targets the KMT, he said.
The KMT, after it lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan in 1949, gave some of its assets to the state, he added.
“Although regrettably, there was a time when the party and the state were considered a single entity, which might not be right, but under those conditions the KMT brought with it gold reserves from China and gave it all to the government, despite the fact that they were primarily considered a party asset. They include treasures in the National Palace Museum,” Hu said.
“The sole motivation of the act is to destroy the KMT by unconstitutional and illegal methods,” KMT head of foreign media and international affairs Eric Huang （黃裕鈞） said.
“The committee is extremely partisan and operates outside of Legislative Yuan oversight,” Huang said.
A fair, bipartisan system and the stability of the financial system could be destroyed as a result of the committee’s actions, as the KMT’s role as an opposition party could be weakened and investor confidence could be undermined, he said.
The party has voluntarily given up 216 properties worth about NT$4.8 billion （US$148.57 million）, and the KMT placed its shares of Central Investment Co （中央投資） and Hsinyutai Co （欣裕台） — two KMT-owned holding companies that the committee identified as KMT affiliates whose assets could be confiscated — in trust in 2006, and the two companies have since functioned independently of the KMT, Huang said, questioning the committee’s recognition.
Huang also cited court rulings in favor of the party — including verdicts that suspended the committee’s orders to freeze KMT accounts and confiscate the two holding companies — to challenge the committee’s disposition.
Committee spokeswoman Shih Chin-fang （施錦芳） said the committee was founded because the judicial system cannot deal with the KMT’s public properties.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
