The Cabinet’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee is to designate Central Motion Picture Corp (CMPC, 中影) and Broadcasting Corp of China (BCC, 中廣) as affiliates of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) by the end of the year, amid renewed public attention on the companies following the indictment of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) over his handling of the firms’ disposal.
The committee would request that the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office transfer records from its investigation into the CMPC and BCC sales after the documents are forwarded to the Taipei District Court, committee spokeswoman Shih Chin-fang (施錦芳) said yesterday.
“I heard that there are 300 volumes, or 300 boxes, of evidence. We want to see if there is any evidence that we did not uncover in our investigation,” Shih said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Committee staff members are drafting disposition reports on the media companies, Shih said, adding that the reports would be sent to committee members for review upon completion.
“We should be able to designate them as KMT affiliates by the end of this year,” she added.
Ma was on Tuesday last week charged with breach of trust and contraventions of the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) for his role in the KMT’s disposal of several party assets in 2005 and 2006, including CMPC, BCC and China Television Co (中視).
The two people who managed the KMT’s finances used an elaborate financial scheme, which Ma approved, that enabled the party to sell the media companies and other assets at below market prices, which caused the KMT to lose NT$7.29 billion (US$238.89 million at the current exchange rate), the indictment said.
The more difficult part will be determining in what manner and proportion to return the companies’ assets to the government, as the properties have switched hands numerous times, Shih said.
Citing an example, Shih said CMPC took over 14 Japanese-owned theaters in 1953, most of which were either sold in the 1950s and 1960s or converted as part of the company’s joint construction projects with others.
CMPC later used proceeds from the theater sales to purchase the Chinese Culture and Movie Center in Taipei and a film facility in what is now New Taipei City, Shih said, adding that the movie production company still owns three theaters from the Japanese colonial period and several housing units in converted theater buildings.
The committee would seek advice from experts to accurately determine how much the companies should pay the government as compensation, Shih added.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
RSS