The Greater Kaohsiung Government asked a court to issue a provisional attachment to LCY Chemical Corp (李長榮化工) yesterday to ensure the corporation’s ability to compensate the victims of last week’s explosions and the municipality for the damage suffered.
Although the investigation is still ongoing following the explosions that took 30 lives and left 310 people injured, the company is widely believed to be the party responsible for causing the blasts.
Greater Kaohsiung Legal Affairs Bureau Director Tseng Ching-chung (曾慶崇), who was representing the local government, yesterday accompanied a representative of the victims to the Greater Kaohsiung District Court to apply for an order to freeze LCY Chemical’s assets to prevent it from disposing of them before a ruling is made.
Photo: Chang Chung-yi, Taipei Times
Tseng said the Greater Kaohsiung Government had requested a provisional attachment of LCY Chemical’s assets worth NT$1.9 billion (US$63.23 million).
A spokesman for a group representing the victims sought another NT$4.5 million.
The director said the gas explosions had severely damaged the municipality’s roads, which will cost about NT$1.9 billion to fix.
He added that the government would aid those who have suffered from the blasts with their requests, but as the victims have not finished estimating their losses, only the victims’ representative made the request yesterday and further attachments could be filed later.
LCY Chemical yesterday said that it would deposit NT$500 million in an account at CTBC Bank (中信銀行) to pay any necessary compensation to the victims of the explosions.
“As a listed company, LCY Chemical has no intention of shirking its responsibility by hiding or disposing of its assets,” the company said in a statement yesterday. “LCY Chemical will continue to operate to take care of its 80,000 shareholders, 5,000 employees and their family members.”
After receiving the pleas for a provisional attachment, the Greater Kaohsiung District Court said it would ask the plaintiffs to provide all documentation supporting their requests for reparations within the next three days.
The court will attempt to resolve the issue as soon as possible after receiving the required documents, it said.
The court also said that it would not require the guarantee deposited by the plaintiffs to reach the legal one-third of the amount of reparations asked for, adding that it would reduce the guaranteed deposits accordingly.
Additional reporting by Jake Chung and CNA
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