Taiwan’s Kuomintang opposition party says it’s struggling to pay staff amid asset freeze
- It says it is relying on loans for salaries because of measure put in place by government as part of investigation into ill-gotten assets
- Committee handling probe responds to ‘fake information’, saying the party had income last year of US$13.77 million that had not been frozen
With Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary elections just a month away, the island’s main opposition party, the Kuomintang, on Friday said it was struggling to pay staff due to an asset freeze put in place by the government as part of an investigation into ill-gotten gains.
“In spite of this, the party centre is still trying its best to assist the presidential and legislative candidates with its limited resources,” the Kuomintang said in a statement.
The Kuomintang said it was having to rely on loans to pay salaries, adding that it had yet to be able to pay December salaries, but that it had succeeded in finding people to support its presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu on the campaign trail.
The government committee handling the investigation into ill-gotten assets issued a statement on its Facebook page responding to what it said was “fake information”.
It said the Kuomintang had income last year of NT$420 million (US$13.77 million) that had not been frozen.
“We only handle ill-gotten party assets. Political parties have always been free to use legal income such as party fees, political contributions, and party subsidies,” it added.