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Legislative elections: President stresses need to retrieve KMT's stolen assets

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) last night outlined the importance of a referendum aimed at compelling the KMT to return assets acquired illegally during the party's five decades of authoritarian rule.

In an interview aired last night on SET TV, Chen said the KMT had sold stocks and funds worth NT$340 billion (US$10.48 billion) through three party-run investment holding firms in the past seven years, based on a book written by Yang Shih-jen (楊士仁), a former Economic Daily News reporter.

While the KMT reported to the Ministry of the Interior last July that its assets totaled more than NT$27 billion, Chen said that the KMT's stolen assets once amounted to NT$600 billion, citing a report by the Control Yuan.

According to Yang's book, the KMT made a profit of NT$15 billion in the first half year of 2000.

"How could the KMT earn so much?" Chen said. "There must have been a great deal of insider trading involved."

He also accused the KMT of spending most of its stolen assets in elections and vote-buying.

"When former KMT chairman Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) stepped down as KMT head, its party assets totaled NT$ 80.8 billion. How come its assets had dwindled to only NT$27 billion? And that's after earning some NT$20 billion from the sale of three media outlets," Chen said.

Chen also said that the KMT is now advocating a boycott of the referendums because of pressure from China, highlighting a scheme wherein the "KMT is united with China to beat Taiwan."

"China has accomplished its purpose when the KMT decided to encourage voters to boycott the referendums because the KMT didn't want to let China down," Chen said.

"It has been the Chinese government's position since 2004 -- when a referendum was first held in the country -- that it was against referendums in any form, regardless of the topic," he said.
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