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KMT made NT$2.9
billion through stocks: MOI data
PARTY ASSETS: Political contributions made up
only 6.9% of its earnings, which DPP critics said showed that it continued to
gain an advantage from questionable assets
By Vincent Y. Chao / Staff Reporter
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) made
NT$3.5 billion (US$121.5 million) last year, primarily on business investments,
far outpacing the amount made by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP),
information from the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) showed.
Stock dividends accounted for almost NT$2.9 billion last year and made up more
than four-fifths of the KMT’s total earnings, raising concerns about the extent
to which the party depends on earnings from its assets and not donations.
The figures, published on Thursday by the ministry, reveal that political
contributions to the KMT amounted to NT$240 million, or 6.9 percent of its
earnings. It also earned NT$251 million in vote subsidies and an income of NT$76
million from party dues.
The DPP, meanwhile, received NT$192 million in political contributions and a
total income of NT$626 million.
The figures come from audited information reported by political parties and are
calculated separately from donations received by mayoral candidates in
November’s special municipality elections.
DPP politicians have accused the KMT of using its party assets to heavily
subsidize the election campaigns of local and national candidates — giving it an
unfair advantage, given that most of the assets were controversially accumulated
during one-party rule before the 1990s.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who also serves as the KMT chairman, has pledged
to divest the party of such assets, resulting in the NT$25 billion sale of three
media companies and its former headquarters in 2005. Ma said the remaining
assets would be put in trust.
However, that the KMT managed to make NT$2.9 billion in stock dividends alone
last year — primarily from two party-controlled investment companies — has
raised new questions about to what extent the party has rid itself of the
assets.
“Where is the so-called fair competition that President Ma has talked about?”
DPP spokesperson Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) asked yesterday, pointing to past
promises by Ma and former KMT chairperson Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) to divest the KMT
of all dubious assets. “They have bounced this check again and again.”
Despite the NT$3.5 billion earnings, the KMT also had expenses of NT$2.9 billion
— mainly on salaries and office rent — with the remainder going to cover a
shortfall from the previous year.
However, there are concerns that the NT$2.6 billion spent on those two items
might have gone on helping election candidates.
“We really don’t know,” said another DPP spokesperson, Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁).
Chen said the disclosure should be a wake-up call for lawmakers to pass the
long-stalled Political Party Act (政黨法) that would ban political parties from
operating or investing in profit-making enterprises.
Meanwhile, while the DPP did not have any stock dividend earnings, it did earn
NT$181 million, mainly from government vote subsidies, as well as NT$166 million
in “other income” listed with the MOI that included some interest payments and
other types of subsidies for political parties. Party dues accounted for NT$68
million.
The party reported human resource costs of NT$129 million and rental costs for
its headquarters in Taipei of NT$18 million.
In response to the criticism, KMT spokesperson Lai Su-ju (賴素如) yesterday said
the party has put most of its assets into trust and that it would sell Central
Investment Co via a transparent process.
The KMT has failed four times to sell the company through a public bidding
process. The company has a net worth of about NT$20 billion and it is the last
of the party’s most controversial assets, following the sale of its Policy
Research and Development Department, three media outlets and its former
headquarters.
Lai said the KMT would continue its efforts to sell the company through a public
and transparent process, while urging the DPP to stop manipulating the party
asset issue for political purposes.
“The KMT has put most of its assets into a trust fund and no longer runs any
businesses. However, the DPP chooses to ignore our efforts and brings up the old
issue during every election ... We expect the DPP to seek support by presenting
policies,” she said.
According to the KMT, the party’s annual personnel and miscellaneous expenses
were about NT$1.5 billion. Lai said the party covered its expenses through
public donations.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY MO YAN-CHIH
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