A day after cross-examining four principal figures thought to be involved in the alleged wiretapping of one of independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) offices, prosecutors issued a statement yesterday stressing that the investigation is ongoing, and they have not yet decided if they will press charges.
The statement released by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office was in response to media reports which suggested that prosecutors have concluded that Ko Wen-je’s camp is not responsible for any alleged wiretapping.
Some media reports said the prosecutors’ office, after cross-examinationing of the four and reviewing evidence, would not bring charges against two of the alleged suspects: Ko’s office assistant, Peng Sheng-shao (彭盛韶), and private agency detective Wu Te-yi (吳德義).
TELEPHONE BUG
Another suspect in the case, private detective Lin Chun-hung (林俊宏), who is associated with Wu’s agency, reportedly has admitted that he planted a telephone bug in Ko’s office.
Lin allegedly said the building did not have any surveillance cameras and he thought planting the bug would highlight the security deficiency to residents of the building and win him a contract to install the cameras.
CHOU’S ALLEGATIONS
In related news, Hit FM radio host Clara Chou (周玉蔻) pointed the finger at Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) as being the key figure behind the scenes who had organized the bugs alleged to have been installed in Ko’s office.
Chou alleged that Lin had been engaged in four previous wiretapping cases, and had been paid off by Tsai.
According to Chou, Tsai, the campaign director for KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文), was planning to hold a press conference on the final day of campaigning when Lin was to make statements accusing Ko’s campaign staff of staging a false wiretap to frame Lien’s campaign team.
CHOU TO BE SUED
Responding to the accusation, Tsai said yesterday that he has filed a motion to sue Chou and Wu Tsu-chia (吳子嘉), who reportedly was one of the sources quoted by Chou.
However, Ko’s camp and other commentators said Tsai should come clean regarding questions on his role, because Tsai sparked the controversy over wiretapping by making public a proposed list of Ko’s advisers before the information was released.
Thus far, Tsai has remained reticent on his involvement and given ambiguous answers on how he obtained sensitive information regarding internal meetings and conversations held at Ko’s office.
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