Members of the public were treated to their first look at the wealth of the main presidential candidates yesterday, as the Central Election Commission (CEC,
Although the lists are quite obviously not complete indicators of the candidates' personal wealth, it came as little surprise that KMT candidate Lien Chan (
Lien Chan and his wife, Lien Fang-yu (
The couple's report to the CEC also included a NT$36.2 million loan to Pingtung (
Lien Chan also owns memberships to three exclusive golf clubs, with a total estimated value of NT$13 million.
All the real estate reported by his running mate, Premier Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), is listed under the name of his wife, Chu Shu-hsien.
The couple hold title to two tracts of land and own two houses, all in Taipei. The Siew family reported NT$1.2 million in bank deposits, but Chu has a NT$3.57 million outstanding bank loan.
DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian (
Chen has NT$7.75 million in his presidential campaign fund, as well as a foreign exchange account at a domestic bank with funds amounting to nearly NT$7 million. The money in the account is believed to be campaign contributions from overseas supporters.
Chen and his wife, Wu Shu-chen (
Independent candidate James Soong owns a plot of land and a house near San Francisco in the US, as well as three homes in Taipei County. Soong also has nearly NT$9 million in bank deposits. Soong's wife, Chen Wan-shui (
Soong and his wife reported owning just one vehicle, and claimed no stock holdings or debts.
Soong's running mate Chang Chao-hsiung (張昭雄) is considerably more wealthy. He owns eight tracts of land and six houses, with a total of NT$23 million in bank deposits and over NT$10 million in stocks.
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