Lawyers representing the NET Fashion Development Co (主富服裝) filed a case against Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) on Friday last week accusing him of larceny, damage to private property and other charges in a dispute over a business agreement for the Keelung E-Square Mall (基隆東岸商場).
NET Co lawyer Chen Yi-wen (陳義文) said that under Hsieh’s orders, city officials accompanied by more than 40 police officers in the early morning hours of Thursday entered the NET Co store at the mall, hauled away equipment and furniture and evicted NET Co from the pemises, illegally “handing over” the space to the Breeze Group (微風集團).
Chen said that NET Co still retains rights for the mall’s commercial operation under the signed operate-and-transfer (OT) agreement. He accused the Keelung City Government of illegal conduct, to force the handover despite not having the “commercial property operating right.”
Photo: Lin Chia-tung, Taipei Times
Chen accused Hsieh of being dishonest, covering up talks with other companies to manage the E-Square Mall, despite “our agreement not being up till 2025.” Chen said the eviction was illegal, and filed the lawsuit for public prosecutors to investigate.
“The police entered and removed the security system, office equipment and furniture, before changing the locks and handing the key to the Breeze Group, who now have access to our office,” Chen said, adding that such actions amount to illegal breaking and entering, larceny and damage to private property.
The Keelung City Government said in a release that it “still retains the mall’s property ownership, therefore it was a legal action and not ‘breaking and entering into private property.’”
“We had posted a notice of eviction, and after the deadline, we exercised our legal authority to take back the property for handing over to the Breeze Group as the new operator of the mall,” it added.
Local media reported last month that Breeze Group had reached a renovate, operate and transfer (ROT) agreement with Keelung City Government, valid 20 years, in a deal reportedly valued at NT$300 million (US$9.6 million).
The media reports said that the E-Square Mall was being handed over to the Breeze Group to overhaul and renovate the mall complex, “to create a more upmarket shopping destination in the port city.”
Additional reporting by Lu Hsien-hsiu, with CNA
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS