Taipei City Government allegations of illegal profiteering are “cooked-up charges” based on a “strained interpretation” of the facts, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said at a news conference yesterday.
Ma questioned the methods of the city’s Clean Government Committee, which has said that Ma, while Taipei mayor, agreed to Taipei Dome contract terms allowing Farglory Land Development Co (遠雄建設) to rake in illegal profits.
“I feel [the committee] first came to a conclusion and then looked for evidence,” Ma said, adding that people related to the case would demonstrate that there had been no illegal activity in each instance cited by the city.
Ma also responded to remarks made by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Sunday challenging Ma to account for an alleged difference between his “real” and nominal campaign financing.
“There was absolutely nothing of this kind,” Ma said.
Ma also said that some of Ko’s comments demonstrate that Ko himself viewed some of the actions of the Clean Government Committee as inappropriate.
At a conference on the capital’s build-operate-transfer projects, Ko said that five projects being investigated should be referred to as “major cases” instead of as “major corruption cases.”
Ko yesterday said he would handle the case as soon as the city’s Department of Government Ethics sent him documents for approval.
He added the he could not stand the “nitpicking” over his wording in referring to city investigations.
“I do not see any difference between ‘five major cases,’ ‘five corruption cases,’ and ‘five strange cases,’” Ko said, comparing analysis of his word choice to the exegesis of ancient Chinese texts.
Meanwhile, former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), said on Facebook Ko that should “find his conscience,” adding that Ko had chosen to “pick fights” to raise his stature.
Ko said Hau was “irritable,” and denied making malicious remarks about the former mayor.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
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