The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday denied having trouble in the planned sale of the Huaxia Building, one of the party’s major assets under Central Pictures Corp, and insisted the party was working with a potential buyer.
Evergreen Group, one of the nation’s biggest shipping companies, is the rumored buyer of the building on Bade Road in Taipei City, which is home to the party-run Central Daily News and currently houses the campaign office of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The Chinese-language Next Magazine yesterday reported the company and the KMT would fight a legal battle over the planned sale after the KMT failed to fulfill its promise regarding the sale.
The company purchased another KMT asset — the former KMT headquarters at the intersection of Zhongshan S Road and Renai Road — in 2006 for NT$2.3 billion (US$96 million).
As a mark of gratitude for the deal at a time when the KMT was in financial difficulties, Ma, in his capacity as KMT chairman, signed a contract with Evergreen chairman Chang Jung-fa (張榮發), promising the KMT would sell the building to the company for NT$2 billion.
However, the KMT failed to fulfill the promise and Chang threatened that Evergreen would refuse to pay the NT$100 million remaining balance on the former headquarters building, according to the magazine.
In response, the KMT was preparing to file a lawsuit against the company for failing to pay the money, the article said.
In a joint statement yesterday, the KMT and Evergreen denied the allegations and said they reserved the right to take legal action against the magazine for “fabricating” the story.
“The KMT is deeply grateful that Mr Chang agreed to buy the property in 2006 and helped us ease the financial burden at that time ... The KMT and Evergreen continue to negotiate the sale of the Central Daily News building [sic] and the story is not true,” KMT spokesperson Lai Su-ju (賴素如) said in the statement.
Lai said Ma and Chang never signed a contract on the sale of the building and the two sides did not file lawsuits against each other.
She also dismissed concerns about Ma’s re-election campaign office in the building and said the president’s campaign team rented the third floor as its campaign office.
Evergreen said the company would work with the KMT to “solve the issue peacefully,” echoing the KMT’s comments that the two sides would continue negotiations on the sale.
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