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DPP urges probe into property deal

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus yesterday urged prosecutors to investigate whether bribes were involved in the sale of the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-affiliated Institute on Policy Research and Development (國發院) building after Taipei City’s Urban Planning Commission on Tuesday approved a change to the status of the land on which it stands from “administrative” to “residential.”

The KMT sold the building to Yuan Lih Construction Corp for NT$4.3 billion (US$133 million) in September 2005, when president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was KMT chairman, despite zoning restrictions and claims that the property had been stolen from the state.

The sale of the building, located in the Muzha area of Taipei City, had proceeded on the assumption that the Taipei City Government would approve the re-zoning.

“The Taipei City Government has not made a decision on the zoning for more than three years and then it was authorized yesterday. You can’t persuade me it has nothing to do with Ma Ying-jeou’s election victory,” DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said at a press conference at the caucus’ office yesterday morning.

“The case had been held up by the Taipei City Government because it regarded the sale as controversial and the decision as one that needed to be re-considered,” Lai said. “The least they [the government] should do is explain why all of a sudden their concerns have disappeared and they were able to approve the re-zoning.”

The approval of the re-zoning would bring a profit of between NT$15 billion and NT$20 billion for the construction company, Taipei City Urban Development Department statistics showed.

In response to the DPP’s criticism, KMT Legislator Chang Chia-chun (張嘉郡) said the KMT had demonstrated “goodwill” in the handling of its assets by dealing with the matter in accordance with the law.

When approached for comment, KMT Legislator Chi Kuo-tung (紀國棟) also defended the move, saying that the land use would not be finalized until the Ministry of the Interior approved the city government’s resolution.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) dismissed the DPP’s accusations yesterday, arguing that the zoning proposal was passed using the proper administrative procedures.

“Members of the commission exercised their rights independently, they followed the procedures and voted to pass the proposal,” Hau said after attending a municipal event at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum.

Defending the decision, secretary of the commission Huang Wen-kuang (黃文光) said yesterday that the proposal was first presented to the commission in 2005 and that the commission had held five meetings and one on-site inspection before passing the proposal. He denied accusations that the commission passed the proposal for Ma, who failed to see the proposal pass during his tenure as Taipei mayor.

Huang said the proposal still required final approval from the Ministry of the Interior.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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