The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) will not return the party assets it stole from the country if President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) were to take over the party’s chairmanship, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said yesterday.
While the DPP was in power, the government tried to pursue the assets the KMT had accumulated from the state during its five decades of authoritarian rule, but those efforts stopped when the KMT returned to power, Huang said.
If Ma became KMT chairman, government agencies such as the Ministry of Finance would definitely suspend lawsuits related to KMT assets so as not to offend Ma and the party, Huang said.
DPP Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) said Ma broke his vow to cut KMT assets to zero when he became KMT chairman four years ago.
The public should be worried not only that the KMT may continue to keep the stolen assets, but that it may also embezzle national funds as it did before, Pan added.
Asked for comment, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said the party should consider donating its stolen assets to a good cause.
KMT caucus secretary-general Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) said the party hoped to finalize plans on how to deal with its assets by 2011, adding that all of the assets were “legitimate.”
“The party owns the assets legitimately, although some of the NT$20 billion [US$608.3 million] in assets is involved in legal cases,” Yang told reporters.
“Whenever an election is approaching, a certain political party always manipulates this issue. But, frankly speaking, the KMT is having financial difficulties,” Yang said.
“This will be what Ma Ying-jeou really has to worry about if he becomes the chairman,” she added.
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