The KMT's business empire should be independently investigated before being put into trust so that any "stolen" funds can be returned, DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (
Chen was responding to an announcement last Sunday by Vice President Lien Chan (
"It is not enough for the KMT to cut off its connections with `money politics' by putting assets into trust," Chen said.
"It's as if a thief who stole for 54 years promised to never steal again, put the money he stole into an account but refused to return it," he said.
Chen said the government should establish an independent "special committee" to investigate the KMT's assets to determine whether any have been acquired unlawfully from the state or the people and if so, determine how much money or other resources should be returned.
Chen said that if elected, he would establish an independent commission along the lines of that established by the German government to investigate the assets of the former Socialist Unity Party, the ruling communist party of East Germany.
DPP lawmakers have warned that the KMT could move money overseas to avoid investigation.
"The KMT's China Development Industrial Bank (
The lawmakers favor the setting up of an independent agency to locate all KMT assets and prevent their disposal until the KMT's right to the assets was proven.
Reports of efforts by the party to sell off assets have been widespread in the last few days.
Some reports have quoted officials involved in party-owned holding companies as saying they are planning to sell overseas properties including a fish-product processing plant in Alaska and a hotel complex in Palau, among other investments.
KMT officials, however, have denied there is any truth to those reports.
KMT representatives, meanwhile, said the suggestions of organizing an investigation violate both the principle of democracy and the law.
"There is no law or regulation which allows any particular person or political party to check another person's, party's or organization's assets," said Eric Chu (
The KMT will let lawyers and certified accountants check all party assets to prove its determination to undertake party reform, he said.
Chu said that by vowing to establish a committee to clear the KMT's accounts, Chen had set a bad democratic example.
New Party lawmakers also appealed to Lien to publicize his personal assets to lend credibility to his plans for party reforms.
"We do not believe that Lien's property is only worth NT$2.1 billion," said Cheng Lung-shui (
"Lien's family owns property worth at least NT$20 billion. Lien can hide his money, and certainly the KMT could use the same methods to hide its assets," Cheng said.
Independent lawmakers said the legislature needs a few months to pass regulations which would allow the KMT to transfer its assets from private, profit-making businesses to trust accounts.
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