Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday berated pan-blue presidential candidate Lien Chan (
"In the latest property disclosure to the public, Lien failed to account for his ownership of properties of almost 66,114m2 more than he officially reported in 1989," said DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯).
To rebut the DPP camp's challenge about his riches, the chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said on Friday that he owned NT$1.3 billion in family assets, including properties covering 2238m2.
Tsai posed the question after a magazine disclosed a huge discrepancy between Lien's latest claim and the 66,940m2 he reported to the National Tax Administration in 1989.
The report said that Lien bought a number of properties in the US, which he never reported to the government even after passage of the compulsory Law of Asset Disclosure by Public Functionaries (公職人員財產申報法) in 1993.
According to the latest issue of Next Magazine, the properties were registered in the name of Lien's wife, Lien Fang-yu (
The magazine said Lien Fang-yu owned a house close to Harvard University in Boston, with an estimated value of NT$13 million, and his son and daughter were owners of two properties in San Francisco and Manhattan, New York, respectively.
The KMT chairman never reported the three properties in his compulsory property accounts to the Control Yuan.
Lien is facing a crisis of probity and he owes the public an explanation about his concealed overseas properties, said DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠).
He said that "the pan-blue presidential candidate should quit the presidential election race as the DPP has found that he possesses property beyond his official disclosures."
Lien was ranked by the Chinese edition of Forbes Magazine in 1993 as the 42nd richest ethnic Chinese in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. He was the only Taiwanese politician in the rankings.
Forbes estimated that Lien owned US$1.1 billion in personal wealth.
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