TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's Supreme Administrative Court ruled this week to reject an appeal from the Kuomintang (KMT) and instead required a payout of NT$860 million (US$27.2 million) from the cash-strapped party.

The Ill-gotten Party Assets Settlement Committee (CIPAS), which is tasked to investigate and recover the ill-gotten gains acquired by political parties and their affiliated organizations, ruled the Administrative Enforcement Agency should collect the money made from trading on 458 plots of state-owned land.

The plots of land were believed to have been taken by the party between 1957 and 1961. The KMT retreated to Taiwan in 1949 following its defeat in the civil war to the Chinese Communist Party.

However, some 458 plots of land and properties were taken by the party as assets. Some of the land and property were sold for unreasonably low amounts but brought in a total of NT$860 million.

In March 2017, CIPAS ruled the lands and properties were "ill-gotten" and demanded the money be clawed back for the national treasury. The KMT protested the ruling and a year later took the case to the Taipei High Administrative Court — but failed.

The party made an appeal at the Supreme Administrative Court as a remedy of last resort, but the court on Thursday (March 14) ruled against the KMT.

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