A Taipei family yesterday asked the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to explain why it "filched" a hospital that the family used to own, making their life "miserable."
The KMT raked in NT$480 million for a roughly 1,000-ping lot located on Ta-an Road by selling it to a development company.
KMT Deputy Secretary-General Chang Che-shen (
In recent years, the KMT has been transfering assets it confiscated during the Martial Law era to holding firms the party owns, then selling the assets to third parties and pocketing the money without compensating the original owners.
This multi-million-dollar deal marks the second of its kind since KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took over the party's helm in August.
The first deal was the sale of the Institute for Policy Research and Development. That sale brought in NT$4.3 billion (US$133 million), despite zoning restrictions and claims that the property was stolen.
The sale of the building that housed the institute, located in the Muzha (木柵) District of Taipei City, is part of the KMT's "reform plan" to sell off its stolen assets by 2008.
According to Jao Jin-yi (趙進一), the elder son of Jao Ke-ji (趙克璣), a radiologist and one of the original co-owners of the hospital, a KMT-affiliated capital venture company expressed its wish to "jointly manage" the hospital with the co-owners in March 1999.
However, after obtaining two thirds of the hospital's shares, the company forced through the acquisition of the remaining shares, using a legal loophole. It then used a forged accord it claimed was signed by Jao Ke-ji with the company. The agreement said that Jao Ke-ji was subject to a punitive fine of NT$50 million to the company if he refused to change the hospital's ownership.
The paper was dismissed by the Taipei High Court as a forgery.
Still, the company requested an injunction on his monthly salary, totaling NT$2 million, Jao Jin-yi said.
The family has filed a lawsuit against the KMT and, while the litigation proceeds, Jao Jin-yi said the KMT told the media that the two parties had come to an agreement to settle the matter out of court.
He said the KMT claimed that the hospital "originally" belonged to five associates of former president Chiang Kai-shek (
Jao Jin-yi yesterday questioned the KMT's motives and the party's eagerness to sell the hospital in a hurry.
Jao Jin-yi said that hospital equipment had been emptied out on the night of a typhoon and the building was reduced to rubble.
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