Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was arrested early yesterday morning after being questioned by prosecutors over his alleged role in a corruption scandal concerning the Core Pacific City redevelopment project during his tenure as Taipei mayor.
The arrest was made after Ko refused to be questioned at night and attempted to leave the prosecutors’ office, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said.
Prosecutors were worried that he would collude with others involved in the case to make false statements if they allowed him to leave, so they issued an order to arrest him, the office said.
Photo: Liu Wan-lin, Taipei Times
Ko yesterday sought a court ruling on the legitimacy of his arrest.
The Taipei District Court turned down his request later in the day.
Cheng Shen-yuan (鄭深元), Ko’s lawyer, said it was very late and Ko could not undergo further questioning.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Ko was summoned by the Agency Against Corruption on Friday and was questioned for about 12 hours before being sent to the prosecutors’ office early yesterday for more questioning.
A detention hearing was ongoing at press time last night.
An investigation into alleged corruption involving Ko and several others in the redevelopment of Core Pacific City in Taipei started amid suspicion about an increase in the floor area ratio (FAR) for the project from 560 percent to 840 percent during Ko’s time as mayor from 2014 to 2022.
The FAR refers to the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the size of the parcel of land upon which it is built. A higher FAR helps property developers make more profit due to expanded property value.
In May, Ko and others were named as suspects in the investigation.
Prosecutors also questioned officials from Ko’s administration, including former Taipei deputy mayor Peng Cheng-sheng (彭振聲).
Citing the Code of Criminal Procedure (刑事訴訟法), prosecutors said the arrest order was issued after Ko was informed of its necessity and his rights.
Prosecutors said that if Ko had been allowed to leave the office before they had finished questioning him, the risk that the investigation would be hindered would have increased.
The TPP yesterday morning in a statement urged the court to look into the legitimacy of Ko’s arrest and vowed to support its chairman’s rights.
Ko was questioned by the Agency Against Corruption before at about 12:30am yesterday being sent to the prosecutors’ office, where questioning continued until about 2am, the party said.
“During the questioning at the prosecutors’ office, Ko declined to be questioned at night, but prosecutors insisted the session would continue,” it said.
As Ko had faced nearly 19 hours of questioning, he declined to be questioned any more at that time, as he felt exhausted, it said.
The arrest was aimed at restricting Ko’s freedom of movement and the court should give him justice, it said.
Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), was also summoned on Friday by prosecutors as a witness in the case.
She was allowed to leave after being questioned.
Before Ko and his wife were summoned, prosecutors searched the former mayor’s home, office and the TPP’s headquarters.
Peng was summoned again on Friday for questioning.
He had also been questioned on Aug. 12.
He has been barred from leaving Taiwan.
Early yesterday morning, prosecutors sought to detain Peng, citing his involvement in the case.
Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and business tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), the chairman of Core Pacific Group (威京集團), which is in charge of the Core Pacific City project, were detained and held incommunicado late on Thursday night and early on Friday respectively.
Ying’s assistant Wu Shun-min (吳順民) is also being held in detention and incommunicado.
Sheen allegedly gave Ying more than NT$47.4 million (US$1.48 million) as part of his company’s effort to lobby the Taipei City Government to increase the FAR, prosecutors said.
In February 2020, Sheen, via an introduction by Ying, visited Peng several times, asking for the FAR to be boosted, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they were also looking into the flow of additional funds Sheen allegedly gave Ying.
Besides being former Taipei mayor, Ko was a presidential candidate for his party in January’s election, winning more than 25 percent of the vote, an unprecedented achievement by a minor opposition party in Taiwan.
His success in the election is widely seen as changing the nature of politics in Taiwan, which had previously been dominated by two major parties.
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS