The ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has won the first part of a battle over a statute governing ill-gotten political party assets.
The DPP is in favor of using the word “ill-gotten” to describe the assets acquired by the opposition KMT when it was in power for most of the past few decades. But the KMT called the wording inappropriate.
Thanks to its legislative majority, the DPP was able to win the first stage in the battle over the statute when the name was put to a vote Monday. The statute now includes the word “ill-gotten”.
On Monday, DPP lawmaker Yao Wen-chih called the inclusion of the word a “big operation in Taiwan’s democracy.” He said the statute is aimed at dealing with assets acquired by KMT.
"The statute is aimed at tackling problems left by history. Let’s face the facts and solve these problems. The assets are ill-gotten, of course! The [KMT] acquired land and buildings free of charge and sold them cheap. Aren’t they ill-gotten?" Yao said. "The investments made by [KMT]-affiliated businesses paid dividends running to more than NT$2 billion. Aren’t they ill-gotten?"