Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday criticized the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over its assets, saying the KMT administration had secretly sold its ill-gotten assets, pocketed substantial commissions from the transactions and used the profits to heavily subsidize the party’s election campaigns, spawning grave public grievance in the country.
Accompanied by lawyer Wellington Koo (顧立雄) and representatives from the Foundation of Medical Professionals Alliance in Taiwan, the Rotary Club and the Taiwan Junior Chamber, Su made the remarks at a press conference in Taipei, titled “Giving vent to fury” (火大找出路), which called on more than 1,000 civil groups to hit the streets along with the party in a planned mass demonstration in Taipei against President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
The rally, which is set to begin at 3pm on Jan. 13 at the intersection of Renai Road and Guangfu S Road, will be the last leg of the DPP’s one-month Fury (火大) campaign against what it says is the Ma administration’s poor governance.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“The KMT has not only liquidated its unjustly solicited assets in secrecy, but has also received huge commissions from the sales. While the party has yet to reduce its assets to zero [as promised by Ma in his capacity as KMT chairman,] it has been using the stolen assets to subsidize election campaigns,” Su said.
Su’s criticism of the KMT came after a recent court ruling involving Hsinyutai Co, a spin-off of the KMT’s investment company — Central Investment Holding Co — which sued the buyers of Central Motion Pictures Corp (CMPC) for NT$2.5 billion (US$85.9 million) for breach of contract.
According to the ruling, handed down on Nov. 30, the Central Investment Holding Co had stipulated in the sales contract of the CMPC with Lor Yu-chen (羅玉珍) and Chuang Wan-chun (莊婉均) that the latter helped the holding company auction off several of its assets with an estimated value of NT$9.8 billion and then paid it a sum of the profits after deducting taxes and transaction fees if they were sold higher than a certain price.
The pair were sued for failing to liquidate such properties within a stipulated period and thus incurring financial damage to the holding company.
Turning to the soaring prices caused by the Ma administration’s plan to increase fuel prices and electricity rates, Su said last year had been a year of suffering and worries under the Ma administration.
Su said public fear over the possible bankruptcy of the Labor Insurance Fund by 2024 had resulted in a spike in the number of insurers applying for lump-sum payments in October and November last year, totaling more than NT$80 billion.
However, the Ma administration still raised premium rates for the fund on Tuesday and let the second-generation National Health Insurance system take effect on the same day, Su said.
Echoing Su’s opinions, Medical Professional Alliance in Taichung secretary-general Gao Chia-chun (高嘉君) said the number of people seeking self-pay treatments was on the rise, mainly because they could no longer afford their health insurance premiums.
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