The Taipei High Administrative Court yesterday ruled in favor of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), suspending the transfer to the state of Central Investment Co (中央投資公司) and Hsinyutai (欣裕台) shares held by the party.
After the announcement, KMT officials claimed victory in their battle against the Cabinet’s Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, which is headed by Wellington Koo (顧立雄).
The committee concluded that Central Investment and Hsinyutai are KMT-affiliated organizations and shares valued at about NT$15.6 billion (US$488 million) should be transfered to the state since the companies were founded using illegally obtained assets.
Photo: CNA
The committee had a letter of deposition sent to the KMT last month, giving the party 30 days to comply with the assets transfer. The party filed a court motion to block the request before a final verdict was handed down.
“The shares could be put up for open bidding or passed on to management by a third party,” said Hsu Jui-chu (許瑞助), the presiding judge and spokesman for the Taipei High Administrative Court. “However, if the KMT wins the case, then they would have lost money making the transfer. If the KMT were to be compensated for that loss, it would be a large amount to be settled.”
“If the companies were to be sold or transferred to a third party before a final verdict, then it would lead to complex legal problems, and could result in disputes, which would waste public resources. Therefore, the court has ruled to suspend the transfer of the company’s shares to the state,” Hsu said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
Yesterday’s decision can be appealed.
In response to the ruling, Koo said it reaffirmed the committee’s conclusion that the KMT’s shares in the two investment firms were acquired using ill-gotten assets.
Quoting the court’s news release, Koo said that if the committee’s conclusion had been overturned, it would likely create a loophole whereby the two companies could divest themselves of their assets, which would defeat the purpose of the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例), which is meant to ensure fair competition among political parties, thus improving the nation’s democratic system.
Photo: Huang Hsin-po, Taipei Times
“The KMT should stop benefiting from Central Investment and Hsinyutai. The ruling means that the KMT should neither transfer nor use the shares, effectively freezing them,” Koo said.
As to remarks by KMT Administration and Management Committee director Chiu Da-chan (邱大展) that Koo should stand down from his duties as committee chairman over the ruling, Koo said the media should ask Chiu whether the KMT would accept the court’s affirmation that the KMT shares were illegal assets as defined by the law.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’