Cabinet officials said yesterday that a special law would soon be drafted to manage the assets of political parties and mandate the return of illegally obtained properties to the state.
Such a law was entirely in keeping with the Constitution, the officials said. They said the law would be drafted by the Ministry of Justice and would be sent to the Legislative Yuan during its next session for approval.
At a press conference yesterday, Minister of State Hsu Chih-hsiung (
"The KMT did not clearly separate itself from the government. It registered state-own properties under its name and accepted donations of land and buildings from governments at different levels [the provincial government down to township level]," Hsu said.
Responding to reporters' questions, Hsu said the timing of the announcement of the proposed law had nothing to do with the Dec. 1 elections.
Hsu said that the Cabinet's investigation of KMT assets was actually a follow-up of three cases investigated by the Control Yuan that involved KMT properties. Those cases revolved around the ownership of 114 buildings and the ownership and operation rights of 19 theaters that were confiscated from the Japanese colonial regime, as well as 86 plots of land and 37 buildings that were inappropriately given to the party by various local governments and the provincial government.
However, Hsu said the Cabinet would throughly review all of the KMT's assets rather than just those involved in the three cases investigated by the Control Yuan.
"The drafting of a special law is aimed at creating an environment for fair competition among political parties and to strengthen the foundation and the sound development of constitutional government," Hsu said.
After all, he said, a party should aim at political participation rather than trying to turn a profit by running enterprises.
Chen Mei-ling (陳美伶), director of the ministry's Department of Legal Affairs, told the press conference that the creation of a law to manage the assets of political parties was feasible and constitutional.
Chen outlined some of the major elements of the proposed statute. It would provide for the establishment of an independent body to investigate parties' properties and detail the organizational make-up and duties of such a body, he said.
Other elements of the legislation would define the categories of party property that would be subject to investigation and would bar a party from disposing of its assets during an investigation, unless approved by the investigative body.
The legislation would prescribe punishments for parties that violated the law as well as outlining how party properties could be returned to the state.
"The disposal of the party properties would strictly conform to the public's interests," Chen said.
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