The Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee is to further investigate two affiliates of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) before deciding how to transfer their ownership to the government, committee spokesman Sun Pin (孫斌) said on Saturday.
The committee is to collect more information about the China Youth Corps and Central Motion Picture Corp, as well as hold hearings, before deciding whether to transfer part or all of their assets to state ownership, Sun said.
The committee in August 2018 determined that the China Youth Corps was a KMT affiliate, freezing assets valued at NT$5.61 billion (US$190 million at the current exchange rate), before doing the same with Central Motion Picture in October of that year, freezing assets valued at NT$11.8 billion.
The cram schools and sports centers under the China Youth Corps were jointly invested ventures, while Central Motion Picture had changed hands and had capital increases, Sun said.
He made the remarks after the Council of Grand Justices on Friday ruled that provisions 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) are constitutional.
The ruling has bolstered the committee’s morale, as the Democratic Progressive Party government has acknowledged that the KMT had implemented a party-state system during the Martial Law era, when the then-KMT regime blurred the line between the role of a party and a nation, Sun said.
In the justices’ ruling, they said the act would allow the government to investigate the Martial Law era to promote transitional justice, and that such efforts are meant to enhance public understanding, he said.
The ruling has built more solid ground for the committee to argue in lawsuits with the KMT, Sun said, adding that the committee would deliberate on what the best strategies would be before the next trial begins.
The KMT filed lawsuits against the committee after it had determined that Central Investment Co, Hsinyutai and the National Women’s League were KMT affiliates and sought to nationalize their holdings.
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