Central Investment Co (中投資產), which is owned by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has allegedly failed to disclose NT$60 million (US$2 million) in assets, the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee said yesterday.
Political parties and their affiliated organizations and trustees had one year to declare assets to the committee from the promulgation of the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例).
It was enacted on Aug. 12 last year.
Central Investment director Lin Heng-chih (林恆志) last month declared NT$60 million of company assets that were placed in his trust, but Central Investment did not disclose the assets in its declaration submitted to the committee on April 7, which might constitute a false declaration, the committee said.
The committee in November last year said that Central Investment was a KMT-affiliated organization and was founded with ill-gotten party assets, and ordered the party to transfer ownership of the company to the state.
The KMT appealed the order and the courts are yet to make a final ruling on the case.
According to the trust contract Lin presented to the committee, Central Investment in April 2007 entrusted NT$30 million to Shih Hsin University president Wu Yung-chien (吳永乾), a member of a KMT think tank, and NT$30 million to Wu in 2008.
The NT$60 million is a “legal fund for staff of [KMT-owned] Kuanghua Investment Co (光華投資) and KMT officials to conduct legal actions and proceedings in issues involving Central Investment,” the contract said.
Eight revisions have been made to the contract since 2007 to make all Central Investment directors and executives trustees.
Lin told the committee that he did not receive any payments during the period of trust and only NT$150,000 of the NT$60 million was used, which was paid to former KMT deputy secretary-general Lin Teh-jui (林德瑞).
The committee, in an official document to Lin Heng-chih, said the NT$60 million is presumed to be an ill-gotten asset and any use of the money requires committee approval, an unnamed committee member said.
The committee would investigate whether Central Investment had falsely declared its assets and why the NT$150,000 payment was made to Lin Teh-jui, the member said.
According to the act, an asset is presumed to be ill-gotten and could be confiscated if the committee finds any illegality or serious mistakes in its declaration.
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