The Executive Yuan’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee has called on the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to pay NT$5.69 million (US$183,691) in compensation as ordered by the Ministry of Civil Service for allowing individuals to combine their party and public-sector service years to qualify for pensions, saying that failure to do so might result in the party’s properties being auctioned off.
The ministry has ordered the KMT and the Republic of China Public Service Association and its local branches to pay compensation of NT$5.69 million and NT$109.95 million respectively to recover the pensions that the government has paid to people who combined their party and public-sector service years.
The case has been referred to the Administrative Enforcement Agency, as the KMT and the association refused to pay the amounts.
The KMT still has more than NT$6 million in its Bank SinoPac account and it may apply to the committee to access the money to pay the compensation, committee spokeswoman Shih Chin-fang (施錦芳) said, citing the committee’s investigation.
The China Youth Corps, which the committee in August designated as a KMT affiliate, has paid compensation of more than NT$50 million for improper pension claims, Shih said.
If the KMT is not willing to pay compensation of about one-10th of that which was imposed on the corps, it might have its properties seized and auctioned off by the enforcement agency, she said.
Regarding the association, Shih said that as an earlier probe by the committee had discovered that the association has no properties under its name, it would be difficult for the enforcement agency to recover the compensation.
Although some of the association’s local branches own properties, the KMT has said that they are being run independently, so the enforcement agency might first need to assess the organization to demand payment from it, Shih said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said that the committee should designate the association and its branches as KMT affiliates, which would make it easier for the enforcement agency to recover the money.
DPP Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) accused the KMT of trying to delay paying the compensation on the off chance that it might return to government and write it off.
The enforcement agency should not be deterred by the KMT and should enforce the law quickly and effectively, Lai said.
“The law takes no vacation,” he said.
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