Prosecutors yesterday requested the detention of a Taipei City councilor and a businessman in connection to a corruption case embroiling former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Prosecutors requested pretrial detention for Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Core Pacific Group (威京集團) chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) for their suspected involvement in bribery related to real-estate dealings.
Ying was arrested on Tuesday night at Taichung International Airport as she was about to board a flight to Hong Kong.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Several of their associates were released on bail, while a request to detain Ying’s assistant, Wu Shun-min (吳順民), was approved.
Six suspects have been named in the case, and 12 witnesses had been questioned as of Wednesday evening.
In the ongoing investigation by Taipei prosecutors and the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption, evidence reportedly pointed to Sheen making several transfers totaling NT$45 million (US$1.41 million) to Ying, who allegedly conducted five negotiations with the Taipei City Government regarding Sheen’s Living Mall redevelopment project.
The investigation also found Sheen had allegedly set up a special fund of about NT$300 million for “public relations expenses” which the prosecutors suspect served as bribe money for other city councilors and officials.
When questioned on Wednesday, Sheen was quoted as saying that government officials from the administration of former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and Ko had met with him, asking to pay bribes to approve a redevelopment project with increased floor area ratio (FAR), allegedly for Core Pacific Group to add more than NT$40 billion to its financial gains.
Ying allegedly acted as an intermediary between Ko and Sheen, with city government records showing that Ying had arranged for three lunch meetings between the two.
As a city councilor, she also allegedly lobbied for approval of the project and pressured city officials during meetings to grant a higher FAR, raising it to 392 percent and finally to 840 percent, other city councilors said.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平) said that Ying had had good relations with Sheen for decades, as their families had known each other.
Ying has served four terms as city councilor, with Sheen being the main financial backer for her campaigns, Chung said.
After preliminary investigations in May, Ko was listed as a suspect in the case for possible contravention of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
News reports said that prosecutors would serve summons to Ko for questioning early next week.
Meanwhile, other city councilors from the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party have alleged over the past few days that Ko had made several personal visits to venues owned by Sheen.
Asked about the allegation, Ko said that he went to a private dinner and an event held by Sheen, but only after the presidential election in January, while denying having other meetings with him.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS