Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday accused the Veterans Affairs Council of lining the pockets of a holding company run by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over obscure transactions in the council’s holdings in eight natural-gas companies.
The council in 1992 transferred all its holdings of eight natural gas companies to the KMT-owned Kuanghua Investment Co (光華投資), but none of the transaction records have been preserved, DPP Legislator Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳) told a news conference at the legislature.
The natural-gas industry was operated as a state monopoly, and the KMT government ordered the council and a few selected investors to run it, Liu said.
Several gas companies were established by the investors, the council and the council-owned Yung Chiao Investment Co (榮僑投資), with the three parties holding equal shares.
The shareholding structure allowed the council to have direct control over those gas companies, as the council held a 40 percent stake in Yung Chiao Investment.
However, Yung Chiao Investment was removed as a shareholder in the financial reports of six gas companies in 1990, while Central Investment Co (中央投資), a KMT-owned company, was listed as a shareholder of two of the six gas companies.
On Dec. 31, 1992, Yung Chiao Investment transferred all of its holdings of eight other gas companies to Kuanghua Investment, but no records exist as to how and why the transfer was made.
The council said that neither the council nor the Yung Chiao Investment has kept any documents regarding the transfer or board meeting records.
“One cannot but suspect that the transfer was an intentional act to sell or even gift government properties to KMT-run businesses,” she said.
The transfer effectively lost the government control over the eight firms, with the council holding less than a 30 percent stake in them, DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) said.
The DPP legislators called on the Executive Yuan to launch an investigation into what they said was the council’s misappropriation of government assets.
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