The Cabinet’s Ill-Gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee is turning its focus on the Chinese Association for Relief and Ensuing Services amid accusations that it misappropriated government-subsdizied housing intended for Tibetan exiles in the 1950s.
The association, established in April 1950 as the Chinese Mainland Relief Association, was a direct subsidiary of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and tasked with funneling funds to anti-communists, a committee member said on Friday last week on condition of anonymity.
The committee believes that the association kept and profited from the assets that the then-government obtained on its behalf during the Martial Law era, the member said.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The assets include two two-story properties in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林), which the association purchased using public funds during the decade of its founding, claiming they were to house Tibetan religious leaders and freedom fighters, they said.
In 2006, the association sold one of the properties to Rich Development Co for NT$100 million (US$3.25 million), then bought three floors of the Rich Zhongzheng Building from the same developer for NT$270 million, the member said.
Rich Zhongzheng Building is on prime real-estate in Zhongzheng District (中正) and the association has generated a lot of rent income from it after it replaced the original, nominal landlords, who were Tibetans, the member said.
The Goethe Institute, Germany’s cultural representative office, rents several floors for its main office and language academy, they said.
The association has retained ownership of the other property, which was rebuilt and rented for use as a care facility for elderly people, they said.
Although the association claims to have become a non-political organization, it has the same problem as the China Youth Corps and the National Women’s League, the member said.
The government has historically funded it by funneling excises on movie theaters to the organization and defraying personnel costs, they said, citing the association’s financial filings.
“There is no doubt that the association was an affiliate of the government, with the KMT in control,” the member said, adding that the committee would launch more inquiries to investigate whether the association appropriated other properties that rightfully belong to the government.
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