The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) offered more evidence yesterday to support its claim that Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
At a press conference yesterday, Presidential Office Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
"Lien cannot provide any document as evidence of the sale of the condominium, so it is reasonable to suspect the condominium was given away to please the Chiangs. The property was worth over NT$50 million back then," Tuan said.
He said the information came from a document showing that Chiang Fang had taken out a mortgage worth NT$48 million on the property.
Tuan added that Lien's father, Lien Chen-tung (
"The Ministry of Finance only informed Lien Chan that he did not have to pay any inheritance tax in 1991 because actually what he had inherited was a debt of NT$10 million. But according to the law, a person must declare his inheritance tax within six months of the death, and the period may be extended three months," Tuan said.
"Lien was five-years late in making a declaration, so it is reasonable to suspect that he tried to evade taxes," he said.
Tuan added that Lien did not pay tax for his 15 properties on Chungshan North Road from 1987 to 1989 and that his tax debts for these properties had grown to NT$3 million.
Tuan said that Lien did not pay up until 1992 after losing an appeal with the National Tax Administration.
When asked whether the green camp was requesting that Lien withdraw from the election, Chiou said that was up to Lien to decide.
"The point is, who is lying? Lien has been changing his story about his assets and Taiwan's sovereignty, and whether Lien should withdraw from politics should be decided by the voters," Chiou said.
KMT spokesman Alex Tsai (蔡正元) said a person who evades taxes may face a five-year sentence, but Lien has never been charged.
"Plus, the cases mentioned by Tuan are just the result of differences between the Lien family's accountants and the tax department. Many people have similar experiences and that cannot be called tax evasion," he said.
Tsai said that for the condominium Lien gave to Chiang Fang, it should have been Chiang Fang who paid the tax.
He also said that because of the differences between Lien's accountants and the tax department, after disputing the department's findings, sometimes Lien would pay back taxes, but sometimes the tax department would also refund part of the tax.
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