The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday slammed the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for ordering the nation’s land bureaus to erase notes on real estate belonging to the party.
The DPP yesterday said the documents that the KMT submitted to the Ministry of the Interior requesting that notes attached to the party’s property registrations be removed was aimed at protecting party property and burying evidence that the party did not intend to make good on its promise to return its stolen assets.
The KMT submitted its request on April 3 to the ministry, which then referred the request to city and county governments, asking them to instruct local land management authorities to remove the notes.
DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said the KMT government had ordered the local bureaus to hide the KMT’s properties.
He said the former DPP government in December 2005 had asked that real estate belonging to the KMT be marked on land documents to remind people and companies wanting to buy it that it might in the future be expropriated by the country.
He said the KMT had promised to return the party’s properties to the country, but that it had again lied to the nation.
The KMT can do whatever it likes because of its domination at the legislature, but people will remember its greed, he said.
Cheng said the KMT was preparing to use some of its properties to fund campaigning for the mayor and commissioner elections in December, adding that the move was shameful and illegal.
In response, KMT Central Administration and Management Committee Chairman Lin Yung-juei (林永瑞), said he had not received a reply, adding that there was no legal foundation for attaching notes to the party’s property registration.
Lin said that removing such notes was simply a return to rule by law and legal government.
Lin also said that at the time, he questioned whether former finance minister Lin Chuan (林全) had any legal grounds for attaching such notes, calling it political manipulation.
In response to the DPP’s accusations, Lin said the KMT continued to sell off its party-run businesses and that these were two completely different issues.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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