KMT says it'll move its funds to Switzerland

The KMT said yesterday it will place a large chunk of its assets in a trust fund in a Swiss bank in an effort to clean its image after losing the last elections amid accusations of corruption.

"We have decided to put all of the shares and assets in our Central Investment Holding into a trust with Credit Suisse and a contract will be signed before the Chinese Lunar New Year," declared KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰).

Lien that his party would also abolish its Investment and Business Management Committee (投管會) and that the party will no longer manage any profit-making businesses.

The once powerful committee has for decades acted as the party's caretaker of its various businesses.

Under plan, the KMT will hand over the assets, worth NT$24.9 billion (US$711 million), to Credit Suisse for management.

The KMT has another holding company with assets of NT$9 billion, which the party must still decide whether to put into trust.

An of the party's assets in 2000 revealed that the KMT had assets worth NT$71.9 billion (US$2.05 billion).

But a further check recently revealed that the amount had dwindled to NT$33 billion, due mainly to the holding firms' failure to list their deficits from bad investment moves.

In related news, Chang Che-chen (張哲琛), director-general of the KMT's Administration and Management Committee, reportedly said that he has identified over NT$50 billion in losses since he took over as head of the committee three years ago.

He highlighted losses during Liu Tai-ying's (劉泰英) time as chief of business management, saying that losses under Liu were greatest in the construction field, with Hanyang Construction accumulating losses of NT$6.5 billion, and Zanadau Development Corp (新瑞都) causing losses of NT$900 million.

He was further reported as saying that the KMT has gathered unambiguous data regarding these losses and will make this public at the appropriate time.

The KMT's Central Standing Committee yesterday condemned Liu, former KMT Chairman Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and former National Assembly speaker Chen Chin-jang (陳金讓) for what they said were their part in the actions that led to the losses.

They said that the KMT will investigate past practices of buying high and selling low in order to gain illegal profits, adding that this crime is punishable with a ten-year jail term.