Prosecutors yesterday indicted Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on charges of corruption, embezzlement, breach of trust and other alleged offenses, requesting a combined 28-year, six-month prison term for the former Taipei mayor.
Ten other defendants were also indicted by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, mainly for alleged bribery and abuse of public office for private benefit, while some face money laundering, forgery, fraudulent accounting and other similar charges.
Investigators have gathered sufficient evidence and testimony from witnesses in four separate cases from when Ko served as Taipei mayor from 2018 to 2022, and during his campaign leading up to the presidential election in January, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Kao I-shu (高一書) told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The four cases relate to the former city administration’s dealings with the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project, use of political donations, use of a foundation and alleged bribery, prosecutors said.
Officials have accused Ko and other defendants of granting unlawful financial benefits in the Core Pacific City case, embezzlement of political donations, breach of trust by illegally transferring funds from a foundation to pay presidential campaign expenses and false declarations of assets relating to political donations.
When Ko was mayor, he allegedly helped Core Pacific Group (威京集團) and its subsidiary gain unlawful financial benefits of more than NT$12.105 billion (US$370.23 million), prosecutors said.
Photo: CNA
Meanwhile, accounts controlled by Ko have accumulated about NT$93.71 million in alleged unlawful gains, Kao said.
Ko has been accused of receiving NT$17.1 million in kickbacks and embezzling NT$68.35 million from his presidential campaign, Kao said.
Ko allegedly arranged illegal transfers from his public affairs foundation totaling NT$8.27 million to pay for expenses and wages during his presidential campaign, prosecutors said.
Photo: CNA
“Ko violated the declaration he made when he was sworn in as Taipei mayor that he would obey the nation’s laws not to take bribes or engage in corruption while serving in public office,” Kao said, reading from the indictment.
Prosecutors obtained written instructions for other suspects to swiftly leave Taiwan and notes to check on the financial accounts of Muko Public Relations Co (木可公關), Kao said.
Muko PR was contracted by the TPP to manage its presidential campaign funds.
Photo: CNA
Investigators found shredded documents with the instructions, as well as torn notes at Ko’s office, indicating that he had tried to destroy evidence, Kao said.
Moreover, his attitude was hostile during the investigation, he said.
Based on the evidence and the other factors, prosecutors pressed charges and requested the nearly 30-year sentence, he said.
They also requested Ko be deprived of his civil rights for 10 years and fined NT$50 million according to stipulations of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), he said.
Prominent figures among the other defendants include Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), chairman of Core Pacific Group; Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲), a former Taipei deputy mayor; Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇); Wu Shun-min (吳順民), Ying’s office assistant; Lee Wen-chung (李文宗), who was in charge of Ko’s presidential campaign finances; and Tuanmu Cheng (端木正), an accountant.
Other defendants are Chu Yea-hu (朱亞虎), former head of Dingyue Development Corp (鼎越開發), a subsidiary of Core Pacific Group; Taipei Urban Planning Commission Executive Secretary Shao Hsiu-pei (邵琇珮); Huang Ching-mao (黃景茂), a former head of the Taipei Urban Development Department; and Chang Chih-cheng (張志澄), a Core Pacific Group supervisor.
In the indictment, prosecutors requested that Sheen be handed a 12-year prison term and fined NT$30 million for charges of illegally obtaining financial benefits, and five years and NT$3 million for bribery.
Ying received NT$52.5 million in bribes from Sheen to use her position as a councilor to shield the Core Pacific City project amid evaluations by Taipei regulatory and urban planning agencies, the indictment said.
She pressed agencies to approve a higher floor area ratio through verbal abuse and scorn during meetings and telephone calls, putting mental and other stresses on city employees, the indictment said.
Ying was accused of contravening her public duty by taking bribes to push for financial gains for a corporation and laundering the money abroad.
She allegedly attempted to evade prosecution by fleeing to Hong Kong, but was stopped at the airport, prosecutors said, adding that she refused to cooperate during questioning.
They sought a 13-year sentence and a fine of NT$30 million on bribery charges for Ying, while the money laundering charges and those related to her alleged receipt of NT$52.5 million in bribes warrant a three-and-a-half year sentence and a fine of NT$20 million, prosecutors said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying