The latest attempt by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to divest itself of its remaining illicit asset, Central Investment Co, fell flat again yesterday after no winner emerged during a public bid.
Central Investment Co chairperson Huang Yi-teng (黃怡騰) said only one company responded to the call for tenders, adding that they did not award the bid because the price offered was substantially lower than the set price.
The company has a net worth of about NT$20 billion (US$619 million) and is the last of the party’s controversial assets, following the sale of its Policy Research and Development Department, three media outlets and its former headquarters.
This was the fourth time bidding for Central Investment Co had failed. The previous occasion was in June last year when again there was only one bidder.
The party’s first two attempts were in 2006 and in February 2009.
Huang would not reveal the name of the bidding company in the latest round and said the bidding price was not raised.
He said another call for tenders would be held in the future, as this was a significant promise made by the KMT and the task to relinquish its party assets would top his company’s agenda this year.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who doubles as KMT chairman, has said the party would no longer run for-profit businesses.
As KMT Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) is stepping down from his post on Monday, Huang said they would brief his replacement, Presidential Office Secretary-General Liao Liou-yi (廖了以), on the matter.
As a trust company of the KMT, Central Investment Co would also determine what the party intends to do next following the failed bid so they can set a timetable for the unfinished business, Huang said.
Ma promised the KMT would rid itself of its ill-gotten assets when he first assumed the party chairmanship in 2005. The KMT sold the building housing the Policy Research and Development Department for NT$4.3 billion and three media assets — China Television Co, Broadcasting Corp of China and the Central Motion Picture Co — to the China Times Group for NT$9.3 billion in 2005.
Ma, who promised in December 2009 that the party would propose a final solution for assets the KMT stole during the Martial Law era, said this did not mean the KMT would no longer have any assets.
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