Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) has been accused of a conflict of interest, land speculation and profiteering from real estate by colluding with local government officials.
Political commentator Lee Zheng-hao (李正皓), a former KMT Youth League secretary-general, yesterday presented land registration records showing that Hou bought plots in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊) through his family’s Yoyu Co Ltd (又昱實業有限公司) while he was the city’s deputy mayor from 2010 to 2018 and its mayor starting in 2018.
Lee said New Taipei City Council Speaker Chiang Ken-huang (蔣根煌) of the KMT had helped to push through urban renewal plans and rezone land through Chun Ye Construction Co (竣業建築), including blueprints for a new school and public construction projects, increasing the value of the land in the area.
Photo: Wong Yu-huang, Taipei Times
Chiang has close links to Chun Ye Co, which is a leading real-estate developer with extensive land holdings and construction projects in Sinjhuang and Banciao (板橋) districts, and has good political connections within the local government, Lee said.
Chun Ye Co has bought land next to Hou’s family property, as these plots could be combined to construct a large, profitable commercial and residential building, he said.
Registration records show that through purchases by Yoyu Co, Hou’s family owns plots No. 253 and No. 254 in the Fuhsing Section (復興段) of Sinjhuang District, Lee said, adding that Hou’s wife, Ren Mei-ling (任美玲), said she had inherited plot No. 254 from her father.
“We checked into the asset declarations of politicians on file at the Control Yuan, and KMT council speaker Chiang has received regular political donations from Chun Ye Co owner Liang Ming-chiang (梁銘江),” Lee said.
Liang and his family’s land development and construction companies are among Chiang’s key financial backers, Lee said, accusing them of using political influence for their mutual benefit.
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members on Tuesday said that Hou must explain his family’s “questionable deals” in Sinjhuang.
They accused Hou of land speculation and using Yoyu Co to hide his assets, and said that he should also be investigated for tax evasion.
DPP spokesman Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) provided documents showing that plots No. 253 and No. 254 total 491.58m2, and that Ren, together with Yoyu Co, bought the land from 2011 to February last year.
Chen called for a judicial probe into the “highly questionable deals.”
Hou is being hypocritical when talking of “housing justice” for young people, “as he himself is a rich landowner, who has hoarded land for speculation and profited from rising land values” thanks to the New Taipei City Government approving urban renewal, public construction and commercial development projects in the area, Chen said.
He also said that Hou has concealed personal assets by registering them under his family members’ names, as Hou has been accused of exploiting renters in his family’s Kaisuan Condominium (凱旋苑) near Chinese Culture University, which is owned by Yoyu Co.
“Yoyu Co is in reality a shell company. Hou has tried to hide its finances, accounting reports and tax records. We found it has no hiring records, and Hou’s staff have admitted it is a small firm set up to provide receipts for renters at Kaisuan Condominium,” Chen said.
Yoyu Co had illegally avoided paying NT$15 million (US$483,715 at current exchange rate) in taxes over the past decade, he said.
While campaigning in New Taipei City yesterday, Hou said: “They have made up things. This is only speculation aimed at tarnishing my reputation.”
“We will consider suing Lee for his comments,” he added.
“Political donations do not mean benefits for the donors in exchange. There is no connection with the land purchases to urban renewal and new public projects in the area,” Chiang said in a statement.
Additional reporting by Lai Hsiao-tung and Wu Liang-yi
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
RSS