A number of senior bureaucrats sued the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-linked Central Motion Picture Corp yesterday, charging that it had failed to return 19 movie theaters appropriated by the KMT as party assets after the end of the Japanese colonial era.
Cabinet Secretary-General Chen Chin-jun (
The suit demands the return of New World Cinema in Taipei -- the largest and most representative of the 19 cinemas -- to the state.
NPA data shows the New World Cinema was located on Hanzhong Street in the site now occupied by the Majestic Theater.
The market price of the land is estimated to be around NT$1 billion (US$30.76 million).
An executive commission under the Taiwan Provincial Government ordered the New World Cinema to be made a KMT asset in 1947.
Chen said yesterday that theaters which ended up as KMT assets have yet to be returned to the state despite promises by then KMT chairman Lien Chan (
After Ma Ying-jeou (
The lawsuit only seeks the return of New World Cinema in order to reduce litigation costs, Lee said.
The lawsuit is the latest in a series of actions by the government aimed at winning the return of the KMT's stolen assets.
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