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Su blasts KMT for holding on to NT$2.1bn in assets

Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday said that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) still owes the government at least NT$2.1 billion (US$64.7 million), but that there is no sign the KMT will return the funds anytime soon.

The premier's complaint focused on 19 KMT-owned movie theaters. The theaters used to belong to the government during the Japanese colonial era, and when the KMT took over Taiwan, the theaters' ownership was transferred to the KMT instead of the government.

"To this day, these 19 theaters still belong to the KMT. We feel so sorry about this," Su said. "Since the KMT has been emphasizing the importance of a clean political environment, I think that returning their stolen assets to the government and the public should be the first step that they should take."

Su said that the Control Yuan completed its investigation into the issue a long time ago and that former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) had also promised during his chairmanship of the party that the KMT would return the assets.

Cabinet Spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said that on June 27 the KMT forwarded an official note to the Ministry of Finance regarding the issue. In the note, the KMT said that it would only return five of the theaters. The five are worth about NT$340 million.

In the note, the KMT also said that the government was more than welcome to file a lawsuit if it found the party's proposal unsatisfactory.

"This is unacceptable," Cheng said. "These 19 theaters are worth at least NT$2.1 billion. We do not sense any sincerity from [the KMT]. This is absurd."

Asked what the government will do if the KMT keeps ignoring the government's request to return its stolen assets, Cheng said officials will "figure it out."

In response, KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said that he always handles KMT party assets openly, by making public any deals.

"We will return the stolen part back to the government, and leave the controversial part for the judicial system to decide," Ma said during a talk with the media at Taipei City Hall. He declined to go into any more detail.

Earlier yesterday, KMT Deputy Secretary-General Chang Che-chen (張哲琛) denied the Executive Yuan's accusation and lambasted the DPP for trying to shift the focus away from its own corruption problems by bringing up the issue of the KMT's assets.

Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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