How to handle assets
On July 25, 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) passed its third and final reading in the legislature. It is a day worth remembering for Taiwanese democracy and the rule of law. It has afforded Taiwan the opportunity to once and for all deal with the historic problem of ill-gotten assets belonging political parties — and their affiliate organizations — according to the rule of law.
The Cabinet is to establish a committee to deal with ill-gotten party assets, which is to transfer any assets obtained by political parties after 1945 — excluding party membership fees and political donations — that are deemed to have been inappropriately obtained, into public ownership.
There are currently 10 political parties which must declare their assets. With the exception of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), one would expect all parties to submit their reports in a timely manner. Judging by comments from the KMT’s Central Standing Committee throughout the process, it is likely the party will behave passively, choose to ignore the committee and fail to submit their report on time. The reasons for this are as follows:
First, some of the KMT’s assets were obtained legally quite some time ago, and the paperwork may no longer exist. This will make it difficult to prove the legality of these assets, making declaration problematic.
Second, the party is worried that if it faithfully registers its assets according to the law, any assets that were acquired or disposed of in an unlawful manner will be used to draw up a black list of high-level party members through whose hands the assets passed — and the resulting pressure on the KMT will sound the party’s death knell.
Third, if the KMT provides the committee with false or incomplete information to protect implicated high-level party members, the Central Standing Committee will be worried that it will be implicated in the falsification of information, which could result in criminal charges being brought against them.
Fourth, if the KMT ignores the committee and does not submit on time, it can avoid of the above problems. If the party waits for the 12-month submission deadline to pass, when all of its assets are finally confiscated, the party can paint itself as “victims,” consolidating its support among pan-blue voters.
When the Cabinet forms its committee, it must be extremely careful in how it handles the problems outlined above to avoid making party politics even more divisive.
Liang Chih-sheng
New Taipei City
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