The Transitional Justice Commission has filed a formal complaint with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office against the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), alleging that the party is withholding political files.
The commission said that it has approached the KMT numerous times about gaining access to documents related to its espionage activities in China and elsewhere overseas during the Martial Law era, but was told repeatedly that it had no such files.
The commission alleged the KMT had files that it was trying to conceal, as well as some that it had deleted, which it said contravened the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法).
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
The code stipulates a prison term of up to five years for anyone who destroys, damages, conceals or renders unusable political files kept by an organization or party-run institution, it said.
The commission said that it was still unaware of the exact number and the storage locations of documents related to organizations connected with the KMT Central Committee that had been involved in espionage overseas, as well as the employment of informants within Taiwan.
On Feb. 1, the KMT replied that it had no documents on the organizations, the commission said.
Prior to that, the commission had submitted requests for the documents in March last year, in September and on March 17, it said, adding that it had submitted the requests to KMT members employed at the Kuomintang Party History Museum and at National Chengchi University.
The commission said that its investigation had uncovered a record of the documents and other items that were in the museum’s collection, and confirmed that some of the files had been deleted.
The commission also said it had confirmed through interviews with museum employees and through references made in academic treatises that some documents were being concealed.
In April, the KMT was fined NT$300,000 for evading and obstructing its investigations, the commission said, adding that it had informed the KMT at the time that it must correct its actions within seven days or face more fines.
As no corrections were made and the requested documents were not turned over to the commission, the KMT was fined NT$350,000 on Wednesday last week, it added.
In addition, museum director Wu Min (吳敏) was fined NT$100,000 on April 27 for making false statements to its investigators, the commission added.
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