The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) passed a proposal yesterday placing its last company -- Central Investment Co -- into trust, authorizing seven trustees to manage the asset and placing its NT$2.4 billion (US$70 million) in shareholdings in the Singapore branch of EFG Bank, the third-largest bank in Switzerland.
The KMT will sign a contract with the seven trustees within three days to formally transfer the holdings to them, giving them the authority to form the new board of directors. Party members will withdraw from the management team and no longer own any companies, said Chang Che-shen (
"We have done this as a last resort to solve the problem of the holding company. Our ultimate goal remains to sell the company and rid the party of all its assets," Chang said.
The seven trustees include the holding company's general manager Steve Wong (汪海清), Consumers' Foundation Secretary-General Huang Yi-teng (黃怡騰), former fair trade commissioner Chao Yang-ching (趙揚清), president of Waterland Financial Holdings Victor Liu (劉維琪), lawyer Chen Ming (陳明), Vice Minister of the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Chen Ching-tsai (陳慶財) and Wu Yong-chiang (吳永乾), a law professor at Shih Hsin University.
In response to concerns that Wong, who also served as the deputy director of the KMT's Administration and Management Committee, was unfit to be one of the trustees, Chang said Wong had already left the position and would assist other trustees in the management of the company using his previous experience.
While vowing that the party would not be involved in the future management of the company, Chang said he expected the trustees to help the KMT sell the company before next year's presidential election.
"The trustees are experts in the fields of law, finance and accounting. It will be much easier for those with no political background to find a buyer," Chang said.
Chang and chairman of the KMT's Culture and Communications Committee Yang Tu (
"The KMT's handling of its party assets has been marred by suppression. The government has taken every measure to pressure potential buyers," Yang said.
President of China Development Angelo Koo (辜仲瑩) had agreed to buy the company and signed a contract with the KMT, but former Presidential Office vice secretary-general Ma Yong-chang (馬永成) scolded Koo and dissuaded him from doing so, Yang said.
Chang said that if the company was sold, the money would be placed in the KMT's retirement fund and used to pay the party's monthly expenses, while the party would use the remainder for charitable purposes.
"We will raise funds for future elections. If the government wants to catch political parties who use party assets to bribe voters during elections, it should keep an eye on other parties," he said.
Disposing of the company had been a party priority since former party chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
The holding company was the KMT's largest asset following the sales of five other assets -- its Policy Research and Development Department, three media outlets and its former headquarters -- for a total of NT$11.4 billion while Ma was chairman.
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