The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor.
Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished.
Photo: Wang Ching-yi, Taipei Times
On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed immediately.
A collegiate bench of High Court judges said in a ruling yesterday evening that there is substantial evidence implicating officials of Ko’s administration in alleged bribetaking from Core Pacific Group (威京集團) chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京).
Ko’s claims of ignorance about the alleged scheme while he approved changes to the project’s scope based on recommendations of experts at the Taipei Urban Planning Commission mean an investigation is warranted, it said.
The judge who granted Ko’s no-bail release failed to appropriately review the evidence presented by the prosecutors in its entirety, it said.
Meanwhile, an appeal by former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) was missing a signature and would be processed after the omission is rectified, the High Court said.
The Taipei District Court in the first ruling said that there were reasonable explanations for Ko to have unknowingly approved allegedly illegal amendments to the project’s terms.
The prosecutors did not prove there was sufficient cause to treat Ko as a suspect who wittingly accepted bribes, the lower court said.
Former Ko officials named as suspects in the case include Pong, former Department of Compulsory Military Service commissioner Chu Yea-hu (朱亞虎) and Urban Planning Commission Executive Secretary Shao Hsiu-pei (邵琇珮).
Ko is accused of conspiring with the officials to accept kickbacks from Sheen to change the floor area ratio for the project.
Lin Jou-min (林洲民), former head of the Taipei Urban Planning Commission, confirmed a Mirror Media report that he had expressed concern that the city government could be breaking the law if it agreed to change the FAR.
The objection was submitted in writing and the memorandum’s content agreed with findings in the Control Yuan’s corrective measure against the city in 2016, Lin said.
The Urban Planning Commission deemed the project to be a priority and thoroughly briefed Ko on it, Lin said.
“Whether Ko knew about [the project] is a question that we all can clearly answer in our mind,” he added.
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
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