The Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee for the first time has taken over the stock of companies after the Supreme Administrative Court on Thursday rejected the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) appeal of a decision to nationalize Central Investment Co and Hsinyutai Co, which are estimated to be worth a combined NT$15.6 billion (US$498.32 million).
The committee would consult lawyers on how to proceed, as ongoing lawsuits might prevent it from immediately acting on the ruling, a source in the committee said on Friday on condition of anonymity.
The committee in 2016 declared that the two firms were illegally obtained assets, prompting the KMT and executives from the companies to file three separate lawsuits against the decision.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The companies say that nationalization would be illegal.
The High Administrative Court ruled against the KMT, but the other two cases have been remanded, with the administrative court saying the firms “were not the appropriate entities to take the issue to court,” the source said.
The Promoting Transitional Justice Fund, which is managed by the National Development Council, has been looking into the procedures involved in transferring the ownership of the stocks, the source said.
There are no procedures for transferring ownership of stocks, they said.
The stocks, once transferred, would be subject to Article 7 of the Act on Promoting Transitional Justice (促進轉型正義條例), meaning that the Promoting Transitional Justice Fund would manage them — including for use in the promotion of transitional justice and human rights education, long-term healthcare, social welfare policies and other such causes, the source added.
Both companies would be considered government assets and the state would assign board members to finalize their nationalization, they said.
It is too early to consider the possibility of the government selling the stocks to allow the firms to transition to private ownership, they said.
Rejection of the KMT’s lawsuit upheld Constitutional Interpretation No. 793 — which established the act — the committee said, adding that recovery of former national assets upholds the ideals of liberty, democracy and the rule of law as represented by the Constitution.
KMT Secretary-General Justin Huang (黃健庭) accused the Democratic Progressive Party government of a “purge under the guise of transitional justice.”
It is regrettable that the administrative court has become an accomplice in this matter, Huang said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiao-kuang
Organizing one national referendum and 26 recall elections targeting Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators could cost NT$1.62 billion (US$55.38 million), the Central Election Commission said yesterday. The cost of each recall vote ranges from NT$16 million to NT$20 million, while that of a national referendum is NT$1.1 billion, the commission said. Based on the higher estimate of NT$20 million per recall vote, if all 26 confirmed recall votes against KMT legislators are taken into consideration, along with the national referendum on restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, the total could be as much as NT$1.62 billion, it said. The commission previously announced
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday welcomed NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s remarks that the organization’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners must be deepened to deter potential threats from China and Russia. Rutte on Wednesday in Berlin met German Chancellor Friedrich Merz ahead of a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of Germany’s accession to NATO. He told a post-meeting news conference that China is rapidly building up its armed forces, and the number of vessels in its navy outnumbers those of the US Navy. “They will have another 100 ships sailing by 2030. They now have 1,000 nuclear warheads,” Rutte said, adding that such
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The cosponsors of a new US sanctions package targeting Russia on Thursday briefed European allies and Ukraine on the legislation and said the legislation would also have a deterrent effect on China and curb its ambitions regarding Taiwan. The bill backed by US senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal calls for a 500 percent tariff on goods imported from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports — targeting nations such as China and India, which account for about 70 percent of Russia’s energy trade, the bankroll of much of its war effort. Graham and Blumenthal told The Associated Press
RSS