Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) vice presidential candidate Jennifer Wang (王如玄) yesterday said that she would make public a list of assets and properties owned by her and her husband today, in an apparent attempt to assuage controversy over military housing units.
“All of the assets currently or previously registered under my or my husband’s name since the 2004 implementation of the sunshine laws are to be laid out for public scrutiny,” Wang said during a visit to the National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall to pay homage to Republic of China (ROC) founding father Sun Yat-sen (孫中山).
Wang said she has never lied about the issue and that the list would back her claims.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Wang made the remarks amid accusations by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) that the former Council of Labor Affairs minister has profited handsomely from speculative purchases of housing units transformed from old quarters for military dependents.
Tuan said the prices of such residences were relatively low, because the owners are prohibited by the Act for Rebuilding Old Quarters for Military Dependents (國軍老舊眷村改建條例) from selling the unit within five years of registering the property, often making them the target of realty speculators.
The lawmaker said that the number of military apartments that had been involved in Wang’s dealings were more than she cared to admit, citing one unit each that Wang purchased from a woman surnamed Wang (王) in 2006, a man surnamed Mo (莫) in 2009 and a man surnamed Chih (池) in 2012, as well as three residences from a woman named Hsieh Hui-chen (謝惠珍) in 2007, 2009 and 2013.
Photo: Chen Wei-tsung, Taipei Times
However, Wang yesterday said that she and her family have acquired only five military housing units, including two in the 1990s that were registered under her name, which were purchased at a total price of NT$10.6 million (US$323,704 at current exchange rates) and sold for NT$18 million a decade later.
The other three residences are one she bought in 2007, which was later transferred to her younger sister; one purchased by her mother in 2008; and one in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) that she and her mother jointly acquired in 2004, which was later transferred to her husband’s name, Wang said.
Wang said all the transactions were legal and above board, adding that Hsieh had talked to her about jointly purchasing some land and housing units, but that their negotiations did not come to fruition.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
She also denied media reports that she has been living with her husband, Judicial Yuan Department of Government Ethics Director Huang Tung-hsun (黃東焄), at the Judicial Yuan’s faculty dormitory, which charges them only NT$700 per month in rent, instead of staying in the military unit registered under Huang’s name, as she claimed.
“I have to clarify here that my husband’s position generally comes with a monthly rent allowance of NT$700, but those living in the faculty dormitory cannot receive the money,” Wang said.
Wang said her husband only applied for the dormitory because of severe traffic jams on the highway he had to drive on every day when they were living in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店).
Wang said the dormitory did not cost the couple only NT$600 or NT$700 per month, as people have said, adding that they also have to pay about NT$1,400 in management fees, NT$1,000 in administrative fees and NT$1,600 for water and electricity.
“Also, as the dormitory was in poor condition when we moved in in 2005, I spent about NT$600,000 on renovating the house, which translates into NT$5,000 per month over the past decade,” she said.
Tuan said that the couple are living in the dormitory illegally, citing Judicial Yuan regulations that bar employees who own housing in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan or Keelung from applying for the dorms.
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