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
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