The Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate in a legislative by-election in Taichung’s second electoral district should clarify allegations related to his properties instead of evading the issue, said former legislator, Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀), the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) contender in the vote.
Former legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) of the KMT, who represented the district from 2013 to last year, has come under increasing pressure to dismantle a house his family owns in Nantun District (南屯) after the Taichung City Government found that it was illegally constructed on land intended to be used for public facilities, giving the family until Monday to tear it down.
Local media reported that no work had been done on the property since the order was issued, except for workers drilling six holes into a perimeter.
Photo: Liao Yao-tung, Taipei Times
The main building structures remain untouched, the reports quoted local residents as saying.
DPP Taichung City Councilor Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said that the Yen family is trying to slow down the process and accused the city government of shielding Yen by not enforcing its own order.
Chen and other city councilors had provided documents showing that the Yen family was constructing a luxury private club on the 2,000m2 plot, which the city planned to use for a playground.
The family’s political clout enabled it to change the public use designation and build the club to entertain friends and business associates, Chen said.
“If the Taichung Urban Development Bureau does not enforce the order, it means that Taichung residents can from now on take over public land and erect illegal structure for their own use,” Chen said.
Lin said the building should be torn down, adding that the media would scrutinize the progress.
Yen said that his family is dismantling the structure, but has to conform to legal procedures and the construction firm’s schedule.
“Media outlets are welcome to go there to check it out,” Yen said.
Meanwhile, Chen and other city councilors said that the plot in Nantun is only one of many questionable property dealings linked to Yen and his father, who represented the district in the legislature before him.
The councilors said that the Yens had allegedly bought large numbers of plots in the city, using suspicious methods to finance the deals, such as through large loans from state-own banks that have not been paid back.
Upon his re-election to the Legislative Yuan in 2016, Yen declared 80 properties, mainly in Taichung, NT$222 million (US$7.98 million) in bank deposits, business assets of NT$48 million and four luxury vehicles.
In the past few weeks, media reported that Taichung councilors and borough wardens had filed complaints that the Yen family had allegedly set up firms to pressure government officials and acquire a dock in the Port of Taichung.
The family was allegedly also involved in large real-estate deals near Taichung International Airport.
Lin said that Yen should publicly explain his role in these affairs or accept invitations to political talk shows.
Yen said: “I have been under attack by all sorts of media for over a month... They spread rumors about me, especially in political talk shows.”
Yen urged the public to write letters to the National Communications Commission and complain about the treatment of him and his family, saying that the shows had “escalated their attacks in recent days.”
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