An investigation by the Control Yuan has questioned the way the KMT -- often dubbed the richest political party in the world -- has acquired its assets, said to be worth billions of dollars, a Control Yuan member said yesterday.
With the investigation having gone on for more than six months, the Control Yuan yesterday requested Secretary-General of the Executive Yuan Wei Chi-lin (
Control Yuan member Huang Huang-hsiung (黃煌雄) said following a meeting with the ministers that their initial investigation has shown that the KMT used dubious means to acquire its assets, such as illegally occupying state-owned land and premises.
"We found evidence that points to the party's illegal occupation [of land], not just in a few selected locations but all around the country," Huang said.
A former lawmaker, Huang during his legislative career pushed for legislation regulating the assets of political parties. More than six months ago, Huang and two other Control Yuan members initiated the investigation into the KMT's assets and have so far found a number of suspicious cases.
"We've found that a lot of the party's properties were given as gifts, but what we feel is suspicious is that all the political donations went to the KMT alone. Why were the DPP and other parties overlooked?" Huang asked.
Control Yuan members have collected the papers and documents they need from district offices at locations around the country; the documents describe the KMT's land holdings and other assets.
An official of the National Property Bureau noted at the meeting yesterday that the KMT's assets were, in general, acquired "legally;" the process through which the party obtained the assets was in accordance with the law.
But Huang believes it is debatable whether the assets were obtained "legally" now that Taiwan is a democracy.
Huang said during the process of reunification, Germany also faced the problem of what was legally obtained property and what was not.
"That's probably something Taiwan shall have to deal with in the long run too," Huang said.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS