Central Investment Co, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) only remaining company, yesterday dismissed allegations that part of Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) would be returned to the company.
The KMT sold BCC to Jungli Investment Co in 2005 for approximately NT$9.3 billion (US$282 million). China Television Co and the Central Motion Picture Corp were also included in the deal. The company later sold BCC to current BCC chairman Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康) in 2006.
The Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) yesterday reported that Jaw applied to the National Communications Commission (NCC) last year to divide BCC into two companies, BCC and an asset management company, in an attempt to return the NT$7 billion company to Central Investment Co.
Wang Hai-ching (汪海清), general manager of Central Investment Co, yesterday dismissed the report, saying that the KMT had carried out its promise of divesting the party of its media interests when it sold the three companies.
Wang said Jaw applied to divide BCC in order to follow the NCC’s regulations in preparation for the radio station’s stock being officially listed on the stock exchange.
The Central Investment Co no longer owns a share holding in BCC and it was Jaw’s right to handle the company as he saw fit, Wang said.
“The sale was complicated, but it was handled according to the law,” Wang told a press conference at the KMT headquarters.
Wang declined to comment on whether or not Jaw would keep only BCC and return the asset management company to Central Investment Co.
Wang said prosecutors began an investigation into the KMT’s handling of the sale of the three media outlets under the Democratic Progressive Party government. He urged the public to respect the investigation, which had not discovered anything illegal about the sale and to stop damaging the KMT’s reputation with groundless accusations.
The KMT placed the Central Investment Co into trust in 2007 following Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) pledge to resolve the party assets issue during his time as party chairman. The company was expected to have been sold, but the party continues to own the firm.
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