Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) yesterday confirmed the failure of an attempt to reach a deal with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) over controversial assets owned by the party and two companies affiliated with it.
According to an article in the Chinese-language United Evening News, the committee was close to reaching an administrative contract with the KMT over the assets of two KMT-owned companies — Central Investment Co (中央投資公司) and Hsinyutai Co (欣裕台) — as well as nine checks issued under a KMT account worth NT$468 million (US$14.64 million), but the KMT terminated negotiations with the committee.
Under the terms of the contract, the KMT would be obligated to transfer 55 percent of its holdings in the two companies to the government and donate the remaining 45 percent to fund long-term care and healthcare services.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
The committee last month declared the two companies — which have a combined value of about NT$15.6 billion — KMT-affiliated organizations, and said they should be transferred to the state since they were founded using illegally obtained assets, but the Taipei High Administrative Court on Friday last week suspended the transfer.
Koo yesterday confirmed the existence of the contract, but denied accusations that the committee was engaged in under-the-table dealings.
“The Administrative Procedure Act (行政程序法) authorizes government authorities to negotiate an administrative contract, and the committee is not the first agency attempting to reach such a contract with a civic group,” Koo said.
“KMT Vice Chairman Steve Chan (詹啟賢) took the initiative to contact and negotiate with the committee over the ordered transfer of Central Investment and Hsinyutai to the government, as well as the nine checks” frozen by the committee, he said.
Koo reiterated that it was not the committee that took the initiative, adding that the negotiations were conducted according to the law and with the participation of the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Finance, but the committee failed to reach an agreement with the KMT.
Koo said he did not understand why the KMT backed out of the contract, but speculated that Chan might not be fully authorized to negotiate such an agreement.
Meanwhile, KMT members yesterday protested outside the committee’s headquarters over a freeze on KMT bank accounts, which they said prevented the party from paying salaries and pensions, and they demanded that the committee allow the KMT to make the payments.
Showing a document the committee issued to the KMT, Koo told the protesters that the committee had allowed the party to access about NT$922 million from the nine checks and a KMT account, as well as a payment owed to the KMT by the Chang Yung-fa Foundation (張榮發基金) to pay for party employees’ salaries, pensions and health insurance.
“I do not know why the KMT did not tell you” about the committee’s decision, he said.
ANNOUNCEMENT: People who do not comply with the ban after a spoken warning would be reported to the police, the airport company said on Friday Taoyuan International Airport Corp on Friday announced that riding on vehicles, including scooter-suitcases (also known as “scootcases”), bicycles, scooters and skateboards, is prohibited in the airport’s terminals. Those using such vehicles should manually pull them or place them on luggage trolleys, the company said in a Facebook post. The ban intends to maintain order and protect travelers’ safety, as the airport often sees large crowds of people, it said, adding that it has stepped up publicity for the regulation, and those who do not comply after a spoken warning would be reported to the police. The company yesterday said that
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
TECH CORRIDOR: Technology centers and science parks in the south would be linked, bolstering the AI, semiconductor, biotech, drone, space and smart agriculture industries The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a “Southern Silicon Valley” project to promote the development of an artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor industry in Chiayi County, Tainan, Pingtung County and Kaohsiung. The plan would build an integrated “S-shaped semiconductor industry corridor” that links technology centers and science parks in the south, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said yesterday after a Cabinet meeting. The project would bolster the AI, semiconductor, biotech, drone, space and smart agriculture industries, she said. The proposed tech corridor would be supported by government efforts to furnish computing power, workforce, supply chains and policy measures that encourage application and integration
RSS