The KMT is selling off real-estate holdings to pare down the debt of its money-losing businesses, raising the eyebrows of critics who say the party's illegally obtained assets should be returned to the state.
The KMT is disposing of office and hotel buildings at home and abroad in order to balance its books, Tan Chi-tung (譚啟東), a party representative, said yesterday.
"Like most other businesses in Taiwan, many KMT-owned firms have suffered losses," Tan said. "The party has no choice but sell idle real estate to help stay in the black."
The KMT -- by many accounts the world's wealthiest party -- is one of the nation's top five business conglomerates, with assets estimated at NT$78 billion. Some observers say the figure is much higher.
The party hopes to sell off office buildings adjacent to the Taipei Railway Station and residential apartments in Hsinchu and near the Taipei Zoo in Mucha.
In addition, the KMT hopes to find buyers for its share in high-rise buildings in Hong Kong, South Africa and Palau.
On Dec. 11, the Ministry of Justice held a meeting to discuss the drafting of a special law that would allow the government to probe the legality of the KMT's assets.
Included in the draft law is a proposal to establish an independent panel to review the par-ty's holdings.
There's evidence to suggest the KMT flouted the law in its acquisition of 114 buildings, 19 movie theaters and 86 plots of land, among others properties, that it took over from the Japanese colonial government.
Wu Chin-chi (吳清基), the newly appointed KMT spokesman, said yesterday that it was both legal and sensible for the party to sell unprofitable assets whose values have suffered along with the dismal economy.
"The sales are based purely on economic concerns," Wu said, shrugging off news reports suggesting the party was shedding assets to prevent them from being confiscated.
During its decades-long rule, the KMT is believed to have transferred the ownership of scores of public properties under its trust to its headquarters and local chapters.
The party also invested heavily overseas in its pursuit of diplomatic ties with small, impoverished countries, in what critics called "money diplomacy."
Many of those investments have proved to be financial flops and the party is pulling out of those projects, according to unnamed officials.
DPP spokesman Phoenix Cheng (鄭運鵬) said yesterday the KMT should postpone selling its assets to avoid charges that it's seeking to put them beyond the reach of the government.
"It is better for the KMT to put off the sale of its assets, unless the party is undergoing great financial difficulties," Cheng said.
Cheng challenged the KMT to provide a detailed account explaining why it needs to raise money through the asset sales.
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