Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) statement at his first trial in Taipei for alleged breach of trust and contraventions of the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) was full of errors, a former member of former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) administration said yesterday.
Ma is being charged for his role in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) sale of three media companies — Central Motion Picture Corp (中影), China Television Co (CTV, 中視) and Broadcasting Corp of China (中廣) — in 2005 and 2006 when he was party chairman.
The KMT’s assets became the target of attacks after Chen was elected president in 2000, Ma said in his defense statement.
Prior to 1954, former Taiwan governor K.C. Wu (吳國楨) had already said that the KMT was using the national treasury as the party treasury, said the source, who worked at a minister without portfolio’s office addressing ill-gotten party assets while Chen was in office.
Ma’s claim that the KMT’s assets came under attack starting in 2000, resulting in a negative perception of KMT-run businesses, departs from historical facts, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The source also rebutted Ma’s argument that former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) in 2002 announced that the party would donate 152 assets to various levels of the government.
These so-called “donations” were actually “regifting” of real estate that various government agencies had “gifted” to the KMT during the authoritarian period, the source said.
The necessity and urgency of handling the KMT’s assets had increased at the time, as the deadline for dealing with the assets was approaching and the KMT was short of funds, Ma said in his statement.
The Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法) required political parties to withdraw from the management of radio and television stations by Dec. 26, 2005.
However, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration at the time was not pleased to see the KMT deal with its assets and obstructed the process, Ma said.
Former China Times Group chairman Albert Yu (余建新) had expressed an interest in purchasing Central Investment Co’s (中央投資公司) stake in Hua Hsia Investment Holding Co (華夏投資公司), but then-Government Information Office director-general Pasuya Yao (姚文智) wrote a letter telling the interested parties that if they purchased CTV stakes from Hua Hsia Investment, they would lose their right to them due to the results of an investigation into ill-gotten party assets, Ma said.
On what basis could Yao determine that the shares of Hua Hsia Investment possessed by Central Investment were ill-gotten party assets, Ma asked.
The legal basis was the draft of the Act Governing the Settlement of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例), which was completed in 2002, but the review of which was delayed due to the KMT exploiting its majority in the Legislative Yuan, the source said.
The designation of the shares as ill-gotten party assets was made based on government documents and a comprehensive understanding of history, they said, adding that the Control Yuan had asked the Executive Yuan to conduct a thorough investigation.
As the KMT was trying to sell off its assets and profit from them instead of returning them to the state, the DPP had a responsibility to warn the public of the risks of accepting ill-gotten party assets, they said.
The public had hoped to see the ill-gotten assets returned to the state and the people, the source said.
Instead, Ma broke his promise to “zero out the party assets,” by selling the assets and profiting from them, the source added.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS