Wed, Jun 16, 2004 page2

• Taipei blasts property seizures

  DISPUTED DEBTS The deputy mayor accused the central government of bias but Bureau of National Health Insurance officials said the city government's a deadbeat

  • By Jewel Huang / STAFF REPORTER
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  Taipei Deputy Mayor Ou Chin-der (歐晉德) strongly denounced the central government again yesterday as unfair and unreasonable for seizing 30 pieces of property to cover payments the city owed the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI).

  On Monday, the Ministry of Justice's Department of Administrative Enforcement announced that it had seized non-public property belonging to the Taipei City Government because the city owed the bureau NT$10.8 billion in insurance subsidies dating back to 1999. The 30 properties are estimated to be worth about NT$11.2 billion.

  The department also seized 32 pieces of property belonging to the Kaohsiung City Government, worth an estimated NT$2.6 billion, because Kaohsiung has owed about NT$9.9 billion since 2000.

  During yesterday's weekly municipal meeting, Ou criticized the central government, saying it had not dealt fairly with Taipei since the value of the property seized in Kaohsiung was much less than what it took from Taipei.

  "The city government does not owe money to the Bureau of National Health Insurance. It actually overpaid the health insurance premiums," Ou said.

  Ou said that he did not understand why the city has to pay the health insurance fees for 3.58 million people when only 2.63 million people lived here.

  Ou denied that the city's reluctance to pay what it owes the bureau was aimed at creating the impression that the central government has intentionally targeted Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).

  But the city's Bureau of Finance Director Lee Sush-der (李述德) said Taipei will seek a political solution since the issue has been politicized by the central government.

  "The city government will submit an objection to the central government and ask it to postpone the seizure," Lee said.

  Meanwhile, Bureau of National Health Insurance Vice President Lei Lei Chin-hsiang (賴進祥) yesterday criticized Taipei's argument, saying city officials were trying to confuse the issue and did not tell the truth.

  "It is upsetting that the Bureau of National Health Insurance, who is the creditor, has been accused by a debtor," Lei said.

  Lei said that Taipei insists that it only has to pay insurance premiums for those workers with household registries in the city, and not for those people who work in Taipei but whose household registrations are in other cities.

  Lei pointed out that the Health Insurance Law (健保法) clearly states that companies should pay the insurance premium for their workers based on the cities where the companies are located.

  "It has nothing to do with the location of the insured's residence," Lei said.

  This is the way the premium contributions have been organized since the labor insurance program was first implemented in 1950, Lei said, adding that there had not been a problem with the rules for more than 50 years.

  He said the top BNHI officials have communicated with the Taipei City officials about the debts six times and sent 13 official letters to the city government, yet the Taipei officials only found excuses not to pay the city's debts.

  Lei said that the Department of Administrative Enforcement should maintain its seizure orders on the two cities' properties.
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