The China Youth Corps yesterday denied an alleged connection with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), saying at a hearing that the allegation was based on prejudice by the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee.
The hearing was the second by the committee aimed at establishing whether the organization was controlled by the KMT or spun off from the party through questionable sales or transfers — conditions that could prompt the committee to recognize it as an organization founded with ill-gotten party assets.
The committee on Tuesday last week released a report suggesting that the corps has close links to the KMT, as the party had control over the organization’s personnel, finances and management, with former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) directing it for 21 years before being succeeded by other KMT heavyweights.
Photo: CNA
The organization denied being affiliated with the KMT, saying it was a government agency before becoming an independent nonprofit foundation.
The corps was founded in 1955 as a government agency under the Ministry of National Defense, registered with the Ministry of the Interior as a “social movement organization” in 1970 and registered as an independent nonprofit organization in 1989, although KMT members were among its leaders, it said.
The committee has deliberately ignored organizational principles promulgated by the Executive Yuan in 1952 that were the legal foundation of the corps, and has instead cited the minutes of a 1952 KMT meeting in which a decision to create the organization was made, China Youth Corps lawyer Liu Chang-ping (劉昌坪) said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
“The committee has a predetermined position on this case, and its report listed only evidence unfavorable to the corps, suggesting its preconception,” Liu said.
The committee also hampered the organization’s efforts to prepare a defense, as the corps did not receive the report until Wednesday last week and did not finish reviewing more than 500 pages of appendices and evidence until Monday, he said, adding that the hearing should be invalid, as the organization was not given the legally required time to prepare.
Committee member Lien Li-jen (連立堅) said nearly 50 of the organization’s employees have been allowed to combine their years of work at the corps with time of government service to qualify for a public servant pension, a privilege awarded only to KMT employees.
Of all non-governmental organizations, the corps’ employees were the only ones given such a privilege, suggesting an unusual link with the KMT, Lien said.
The purpose of the organization is to assist the government, so its employees were considered de facto public servants, Liu said.
Corps research and development committee deputy director Cheng Fei-wen (鄭斐文) said no funds have been diverted to the KMT or any individual, adding that the foundation has no involvement in politics and should be excluded as an organization connected to ill-gotten party assets.
KMT Administration and Management Committee deputy director Lee Fu-hsuan (李福軒) said there is no evidence in the report indicating that the party had control over the corps, let alone a questionable spin-off.
The hearing was concluded without a final decision, but the assets committee is to determine whether further hearings are necessary.
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