The Council of Grand Justices yesterday ruled that provisions of the Act Governing the Settlement 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) are constitutional.
In Constitutional Interpretation No. 793, the grand justices upheld major areas of contention in the act, which were the basis of a constitutional challenge by seven Taipei High Administrative Court judges in May, after the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 2016 brought a case questioning the act’s legality.
The interpretation addressed questions that the act might have hindered constitutional protections for citizens to organize political parties.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“Provisions in the act on the settlement and transfer of ill-gotten assets do not infringe upon the dissolution of political parties, which is unconstitutional, and they do not deprive political parties of those assets which they depend on for their continual operation,” the interpretation said.
The grand justices also said there was no breach of the Constitution in establishing the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee, and the committee’s authority did not contravene the “division of government power” under the Constitution.
The interpretation also ruled that the act does not contravene Article 7 of the Constitution, which provides all citizens equality, despite their political affiliation, nor does it breach the principles of “legal certainty” and “equality and proportionality.”
The interpretation cited Article 4 of the act which states that the settlement of ill-gotten assets is focused on those acquired by political parties without paying a fair price.
“Before the lifting of Martial Law and the end of wartime mobilization to suppress a communist rebellion, the KMT used its dominance as the ruling party to obtain properties from the nation and its people. The KMT did so in ways which appeared in form as legal, but the actual process contravened the law and order of a constitutional democracy,” Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lin Hui-huang (林輝煌) said in a statement yesterday. “Therefore, corrective measures should be taken to build an environment for fair competition among all political parties, and to ensure ‘constitutional order of liberal democracy.’”
“For our democracy, under the rule of law with a plurality of political parties, it is essential to have fair and equal competition among all political parties, and therefore some appropriate measures are needed to regulate the finances of political parties,” Lin said.
The committee said that the interpretation “is an important decision in establishing a firm foundation for the nation’s efforts to achieve transitional justice and to handle properties and assets obtained through illegal means by political parties.”
The KMT said the Council of Grand Justices is no longer an independent and neutral organization.
“The KMT is not surprised that the grand justices, who have been approved by the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP], would reach such a constitutional interpretation,” it said in a statement, adding that the council has become an affiliate organization of the DPP.
KMT Culture and Communications Committee chairwoman Alicia Wang (王育敏) added that members of the Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee have certain political leanings.
The members have undermined the judiciary and have decided that the KMT has obtained assets illegally, which only serves to highlight how the independence of the judiciary and, in general, the rule of law, is being eroded, she said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiao-kuang
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique