Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday rejected an allegation by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) that he made under-the-table deals with Radium Life Tech Co officials.
Fai yesterday said that Ko on Jan. 18 met with Radium’s top managers at a restaurant on Taipei’s Dunhua S Road, adding that the meeting could be linked to the firm’s acceptance of a ruling handed in an arbitration hearing, which ordered the company to pay the city government a NT$3.35 billion (US$106.2 million) settlement over land it undervalued for the MeHAS City housing project.
Fai said the sum was less than one-third the amount Ko had initially asked for — NT$11.3 billion — and less than 50 percent of the NT$7.6 billion that former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) had demanded.
He said the two sides could have reached a deal to settle the case “the easy way.”
Fai said that Ko raised legal fees from NT$15 million to NT$22 million when he increased the costs on the indemnification from NT$7.6 billion to NT$11.3 billion.
However, Ko later settled for much less and also cost the city NT$700 million in losses, Fai said, demanding that Ko give a clear account of what had transpired during the meeting.
“Do not be like [former KMT legislator] Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾). If you want to make claims, do it in a proper manner,” Ko yesterday said in response to Fai’s remarks.
Ko denied having met with Radium chairman Lin Jung-hsien (林榮顯) or any other Radium officials on the evening of Jan. 18.
Ko called on Fai to confront him with any information he has, so that he can “give him a harsh beating.”
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