The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) controversial party asset issue has revealed to the nation both the incompetency of KMT Chairperson Eric Chu (朱立倫) and his complicity in the party’s opaque handling of the issue, which warrants a public apology, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
The DPP cited a poll by the Zero KMT and Taiwan Association of University Professors (TAUP), which found that 58 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with how Chu was handling the issue.
The poll showed that 66.9 percent of respondents were supportive of passing the draft political party act and draft regulations on processing inappropriate party assets, DPP spokesperson Huang Ti-ying (黃帝潁) said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The claimed amount of party assets by the party, totaling 229, contrasted greatly with the Ministry of Finance’s claimed thousands of items, Huang said.
Huang said that Chu “dared not” reveal actual information on how many party assets remain unprocessed and what the status of processed party assets rested at, calling Chu an “accomplice to covering the illegal party assets.”
Huang said 84.8 percent of respondents said that the KMT’s assets have caused unequal electoral footing for political parties.
The majority of courts in the nation have concurred the KMT had illegally took over national properties in the past, the DPP said, adding that it indicated the KMT’s assets had, for a long time, endangered the development of the nation’s democratic system.
Chu’s promise on Jan. 17 while running for party chairperson to “return the wealth to the people” has yet to be realized, and his inaction demonstrates his lack of credibility and capability, Huang said.
Chu has yet to process even one-quarter of the controversial party assets despite promising to conclude processing the KMT assets by the end of last month, Huang said.
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