The Administrative Enforcement Agency has temporarily halted all Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) property seizures at the request of the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, KMT Administration and Management Committee director Chiu Da-chan (邱大展) said yesterday.
The agency turned down the KMT’s original proposal to pay off its NT$860 million (US$28.2 million) in fines issued by the committee and notified the party that as of Wednesday last week, it would begin closing down 10 KMT properties, including party chapters in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and in Kinmen County.
Chiu said he believes that the committee is filing temporary suspension orders because the closing down of the KMT’s properties lacked legitimacy.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Only two of the intended locations were closed down, but the agency said it would select alternate dates to close down the party chapter in Songshan and the party worker dormitories on Taipei’s Nanjing E Road, which had been obstructed by party workers.
The party said that it still had not seen official documents from the agency regarding the shutdown of the party chapter in Songshan and the dormitory building on Nanjing E Road.
While the Kinmen party chapter was slated to be closed down on Oct. 17, the agency has had to push back the shutdown until Oct. 24 due to a full schedule, Chiu said, adding that the party received official notice about the closure yesterday.
The committee had filed for a temporary halt on the execution, Chiu said.
The agency on Tuesday told the KMT that plans to close down KMT-owned property in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), three properties in Wenshan District (文山) and New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) on Friday would be suspended, Chiu said, adding that the KMT has not been officially notified of the halt.
Meanwhile, committee spokeswoman Shih Chin-fang (施錦芳) said that the administrative orders for the closures came into effect the moment the agency gave local land offices official notice of the shutdowns.
The committee had not filed a request to delay on-site closures, Shih said.
The agency, the party and the committee on Tuesday decided in a meeting to temporarily halt further property closures pending further notification, Shih said.
The committee agreed to the delayed closure of the KMT’s Kinmen County chapter as it was more difficult to auction and suggested that the agency close down all other buildings while leaving the Kinmen party chapter for last.
The administrative action against the KMT is in accordance with the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例), Shih said, adding the KMT could file injunctions to halt the agency’s actions.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique