The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday defended the legitimacy of its sale of three media outlets, including the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC), and criticized the government for making what it said were groundless accusations about the sale.
"The KMT acquired all assets legally and all our asset deals were handled through the proper legal channels," KMT administration and management committee director-general Chang Che-shen (
"If there were illegal aspects to the sale, the prosecutors would look into it. But the Government Information Office is in no position to make accusations," he said.
RESPONSE
Chang's remarks were made in response to accusations by Government Information Office Minister Shieh Jhy-wey (
The KMT-owned Central Investment Co (中央投資公司) sold BCC, Central Motion Picture Co and China Television Co to China Times Group subsidiary Jungli Investment Co (榮麗投資公司) in 2005 for NT$9.3 billion (US$280.7 million).
The transaction was facilitated by Hua Hsia, an investment firm owned by the KMT.
The deal was later canceled because the China Times Group was unable to pay the amount in full.
Former BCC chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (
`FAKE'
Chang denied Hsieh's accusations that the sale was "fake" and that the KMT still owned the assets, insisting that the KMT had sold the companies following its promise to end operating private businesses and media outlets.
"We condemn the government for asking the KMT to divest itself of its assets while threatening potential buyers," Chang said.
Chang accused the government of oppressing the KMT and casting doubts on the sale.
He pledged to take legal action against the government if it continued to spread groundless rumors that damaged the party's reputation.
In response, Hsieh yesterday continued his criticism of the sales and urged potential buyers not to purchase the assets, which are under government investigation.
"The government has made great efforts to transform the justice system and we will watch the KMT's every move very closely," Hsieh said yesterday after attending an event in Taipei.
Hsieh also repeated his call on Ma and China Times Group chairman Albert Yu (余建新) to explain the details of the sale.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
RSS