Taipei Prosecutor Hsueh Wei-ping (
Ko has been detained on charges of fraud, forgery and breach of trust since Aug. 7 last year.
"The two new charges were for offences against personal liberty and intimidation," said Chen Hung-ta (陳宏達), spokesman for the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office. "His behavior has disturbed public order and he should be properly punished for it."
Ko allegedly harassed China Development Financial Holding Corp Chairman Liu Tai-ying (劉泰英) and China Development Industrial Asset Management Corp chairman Benny Hu (胡定吾) when they visited the Taipei Court Building for hearings in July, 2000.
Ko also allegedly tried to court the public spotlight by stopping Liu and Hu and jumping on the hood of Liu's limousine as they left the court.
Ko was arrested by special agents from the Ministry of Justice's Bureau of Investigation at his Hsichih apartment home after he twice failed to respond to summonses from Hsueh.
On Dec. 6, Hsueh indicted Ko for taking out mortgages to purchase 26 near-bankrupt companies between 1996 and 1997 before forging and selling shares in the companies, none of which were listed on the stock market.
Prosecutors allege he fraudulently told investors that the companies were manufacturing computer- and biotechnology-related products.
Hsueh's indictment states that Ko, having made no payments on the 26 mortgages, is guilty of breach of trust. In addition, it stated that some of the companies are effectively non-existent.
Ko has become infamous for his publicity stunts, including appearing behind interviewees on daily TV news coverage, taking stray dogs with him to protest at government offices and bombarding the phone lines of business with computerized phone calls.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan