The Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee yesterday identified Central Investment Co (中央投資公司) and its spinoff, Hsinyutai Co (欣裕台股份有限公司), as organizations affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and prohibited the two companies from disposing of their assets.
The two companies, which have a combined value of NT$15.6 billion (US$494.17 million) have been recognized as KMT-affiliated organizations because they are 100 percent owned by the KMT, which has control over their management, committee chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said.
The KMT has been the sole shareholder in Central Investment and Hsinyutai since their inceptions in 1971 and 2010 respectively. The party placed all its shares in Central Investment in trust in 2007, but the shares were transferred back to the KMT in September, the committee said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
An order prohibiting the disposal of the companies’ assets has been issued. The companies can appeal the order with the Taipei High Administrative Court within two months, Koo said.
However, the firms can file a property disposal plan with the committee to pay their employees’ salaries, mortgage and debt payments if the payments are necessary to maintain the firms’ financial stability.
Koo had questioned the source of the KMT’s income after the party’s announcement on Sunday that it had raised the paid-in capital for Central Investment — NT$200 million in government bonds — using legal income.
Party membership fees, which the KMT said it used to fund Central Investment, only made up 3 to 4 percent of the KMT’s income in the 1950s, when the party derived 50 to 70 percent of its income from government subsidies, Koo said.
Although government subsidies are a legal source of income for a political party, Koo questioned whether the KMT had abused its power during its authoritarian rule to secure the subsidies.
“Under the party-state system, government subsidies accounted for the majority of the KMT’s income. The KMT’s claim that it raised the paid-in capital of Central Investment with legal income is therefore questionable,” Koo said.
The committee has not ruled out interviewing former KMT treasurers Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) and Hsu Li-teh (徐立德) to clarify the issues amid the KMT’s repeated requests that the committee interview former KMT financial officials to better understand the funding of Central Investment.
However, Liu and Hsu held the position after 1971 and KMT officials who were in charge at that time have passed away, Koo said.
“It remains and will likely remain unknown who purchased the NT$200 million in government bonds and how the funds were sourced,” he said.
The committee has yet to decide if the assets of the two companies should be transferred to the government pending interviews with former KMT officials, while the committee also plans to study documents at the KMT History Institute.
The KMT yesterday said it would file administrative litigation in accordance with the law.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
RSS