The National Women’s League (NWL) on Sunday said it would respond once it receives formal notice of a lawsuit filed by authorities alleging it has failed to vacate or pay for continued use of its repossessed premises in Taipei.
The Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee in May last year ordered the league’s charitable arm, the NWL Foundation for Social Welfare, to return the Mei Ling Building (美齡樓) in Taipei after determining that the land was an improperly sold national asset.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) had sold the land in Zhongzheng District (中正) to the foundation for NT$1.05 billion (US$35.3 million).
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
The league had immediately filed for an injunction to prevent the building being repossessed, which the Supreme Administrative Court in July last year overturned, ordering its immediate repossession.
The National Property Administration (NPA) then allegedly notified the foundation that it should pay NT$1.06 million per month for use of the property, which the foundation reportedly believed should be charged to the NWL.
An NPA official on Sunday said the agency’s Taipei branch had in January filed a civil suit at the Taipei District Court seeking NT$129.4 million from the league and foundation for the presumptive 10-year use of the property plus back pay for the past 10 months of “illegal occupation.”
The agency had to turn to the courts to decide who is to pay, as the NWL and its foundation could not come to a decision on their own, they added.
According to the NPA, the foundation owes NT$1.68 million for occupying the building from Aug. 26 to Oct. 13 last year.
After Oct. 14, the league and its foundation owed NT$1.06 million monthly for use of the premises, totaling NT$8.51 million for the past eight months, it added, and totaling NT$10.19 million for the previous 10 months.
Past use of the building, as well as NT$1.06 million monthly for 10 years, comes to a total of NT$129.4 million, in addition to court fees of NT$1.11 million.
However, the court has yet to set a date for the hearing, the official said.
League chairwoman Joanna Lei (雷倩) said the group has not yet received notice of the suit and would respond through its lawyers once confirmed.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) on Sunday accused the league of failing to heed its responsibility to realize historical justice.
The Mei Ling Building has already been determined to be an ill-gotten state asset and returned to the public, but the NWL is refusing to return it and has not paid for the right to occupy the premises, Lai said.
“If the NWL still has a sense of shame, it should vacate the building and find another place to work instead of continuing to occupy public property,” he said.
He also called on the NPA to “toughen up” and on the court to handle the matter as soon as possible, as the NT$1.06 million in monthly fees would compound quickly.
The Mei Ling Building stands in the heart of Taipei and, if returned to the government, could soon serve a better use, Lai added.
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