Taipei Times
Date: Feb 10, 2018
By: Chung Li-hua, Aaron Tu and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writer
A Control Yuan report urged the Friends of the Armed Forces Association to sign rental contracts with the Ministry of National Defense as soon as possible, otherwise the association would be suspected of illegally occupying state-owned land and buildings.
The association was founded in 1951 to perform charitable work related to members of the armed forces, but today is known mainly for the Hero House chain of hotels and a restaurant it operates nationwide.
Three of the nine Hero House establishments — in Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung — occupy land and buildings that are registered to the ministry, even though registrations also exist under the association’s name, the report said.
Under the National Property Act (國有財產法), state-owned buildings should be used by the agencies to which they are registered, but buildings can be leased to select entities if necessary, as long as their use does not violate their original purpose.
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