Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu’s (韓國瑜) presidential campaign is deceiving people regarding his wealth and property holdings, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members said yesterday, calling on the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate to drop the “everyman” image, as he has reportedly lived in luxury apartments in Taipei.
DPP Taipei City Councilor Ruan Jhao-syong (阮昭雄) said that Han should drop the pretense and not use litigation to silence the media and critics, following a report by the Chinese-language Next Magazine that Han’s family owns an apartment near Daan Forest Park (大安森林公園).
Next Magazine quoted residents of the apartment complex as saying that from 1996 to 2009 Han and his wife, Lee Chia-fen (李佳芬), lived there with their three children and drove a Jaguar.
During that time, the couple registered ownership of other properties in Taipei and in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋), as well as a mansion in Yunlin County, the magazine said.
“Han lived in a Taipei luxury condominium and at the same time was buying and selling other properties,” Ruan said.
“It is clear that Han was engaged in real-estate speculation, which hikes up housing prices,” he said. “This shows that Han is not a ‘common person,’ but a wealthy man who owned several luxury condos.”
Other media have reported that Lee Pei-fen (李佩芬), Lee Chia-fen’s younger sister, in 1996 purchased a 60 ping (198m2) luxury condo near Daan Forest Park for about NT$30 million (US$982,833 at the current exchange rate) and sold it in 2006 for about NT$60 million.
“How did Lee Pei-fen have NT$30 million in 1996 to buy a condo? Why did she not live in it, but loan it to Han and his wife? It does not make sense. It raises many questions,” Ruan said.
Lee Pei-fen was apparently only the owner on paper and Han was the one who paid the money, Ruan said, adding that as a three-term KMT legislator from 1993 to 2002, Han had the political clout and guanxi (關係, “relationships”) to obtain mortgages at favorable rates.
“We have seen that Han is a wealthy man and not the ‘common folk’ he has claimed to be,” DPP Legislator Chou Chun-mi (周春米) said.
“However, Han’s office on Wednesday filed a lawsuit at the Taipei Prosecutors’ Office, accusing Ruan and Next Magazine of defamation to stop people from questioning his assets,” Chou said.
“Being a public figure, Han should engage with the media and explain things, but instead he accuses people of defamation and hides behind litigation,” Chou said. “Han took leave from his job as Kaohsiung mayor to avoid the scrutiny of city councilors and now, during his presidential campaign, he is hiding behind the judiciary to avoid public scrutiny.”
In a statement on Monday about Han’s lawsuit, Next Magazine said: “The property holdings of presidential candidates are open to public scrutiny, as has been done in the past and reported on.”
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