Academics yesterday warned that the KMT's proposal to put its assets into trust would be a second chance for the party to launder the party's illegally acquired property. The KMT's presidential candidate Lien Chan (
The scholars said the proposal is incapable of resolving the real problem of handling assets that were obtained illegally unless the exact origins of the assets are clarified.
Tsai Tzung-jen (1/22宗珍), an associate professor of law at Tamkang University, said that the KMT had gotten its first chance to "bleach" the assets in 1992, when the Civil Organizations Law was revised to allow political parties to register themselves as a corporation.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
"Thereafter, the KMT obtained the legitimacy to control seven share holding companies and numerous assets," Tsai said.
Before that, the assets were registered under the names of individuals, since there was no legal basis for political parties to own assets.
"We must look into how the ownership of the assets was transferred to the KMT," Tsai said.
Since the trust system is designed to separate the ownership from management, the sources of the assets are left out of scrutiny.
Tsai said the problem of money politics must be resolved by "de-corporatizing" political parties to prohibit them from engaging in profit-making businesses.
"If the issue is not addressed, putting the assets into a trust will give the KMT a more solid excuse to increase the amount of its property," Tsai said.
Chang Ching-hsi (張2M溪), a professor of economics at National Taiwan University, pointed out that while much of the real estate now in KMT hands was handed over by the Japanese colonial government in the 1950's when it returned national assets to the new government, the KMT also took advantage of its political monopoly in the past to skim from government coffers.
Once transferring money from the national coffers became more difficult as the country opened up its practices to more public scrutiny, the KMT has over the past decade actively engaged in running businesses, several of which are monopolies, Chang said.
Chang said the assets should return to where they belong.
"It is meaningless to take others' property and put it into a trust," Chang said.
He said the involvement of gangsters in the political process and pervasive money politics can all be traced to the existence of KMT-run businesses.
Wang Wen-yu (?y?憰t), an associate professor of law at NTU, said even if the KMT actually puts its assets into a trust, it must spell out the purpose of the trust -- whether it is for "some specific public interests" or the pursuit of "the best investment interests."
Chien Yung-xiang (
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
RSS