The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) must pay NT$864 million (US$28.58 million) of the profits it made selling properties appropriated from the Japanese colonial government, the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee said yesterday.
The KMT took a large number of properties and land from the Japanese after its defeat in the Chinese Civil War and retreat to Taiwan, and a total of 458 appropriated properties covering a total of about 73 hectares were sold or expropriated, the committee said.
The government cannot recover sold or expropriated properties, so the KMT must return the proceeds of the sales, the committee said.
Actual sales figures are unavailable, but the committee has estimated that the proceeds were NT$864.88 million based on government-assessed land values during the times of the sales, the committee said.
The KMT has claimed that it shouldered wartime expenses for the government and that property appropriations were a means to recompense the party for its expenses, but the committee rejected those claims.
Historical documents referred to by the KMT in support of its claim have no description of the KMT approving the appropriation of Japanese properties to repay its wartime expenses, the committee said.
The historical documents show that the KMT in 1947 decided to acquire the ownership of the properties and promised to return the rights to the government after the Constitution was enacted, it said.
“However, the KMT did not return those properties to the state, but instead took advantage of its one-party rule to register the ownership of the properties to the KMT, so they should be recognized as ill-gotten assets,” it said.
According to laws that governed the use and appropriation of Japanese-owned properties, they should belong to “Taiwan Province,” although their usage rights could be transferred, the committee said.
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