Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has been sentenced to 17 years in jail and deprived of his civil rights for six years.
The ruling can be appealed.
Ko, who also founded and chaired the Taiwan People’s Party, was accused of receiving bribes from Core Pacific Group (威京集團) chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) in exchange for granting an illegal increase in the project’s floor-area ratio.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
He was released in September last year on bail of NT$70 million (US$2.2 million), after being held incommunicado for a year
Prosecutors sought a 28-and-a-half-year sentence for Ko.
‘UNFRIENDLY’: Changing the nationality listing of Taiwanese residents to ‘China’ goes against EU foreign policy as well as democratic and human rights principles, MOFA said Taiwan yesterday called on Denmark to correct its designation of the nationality of Taiwanese residents as “China” or face retaliatory measures. The Danish government in 2024 changed the nationality of Taiwanese citizens on their residence permits from “Taiwan” to “China.” The decision goes against EU foreign policy and contravenes democratic and human rights principles, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said. Denmark should present a solution acceptable to Taiwan as soon as possible and correct the erroneous designation to preserve the longstanding friendship between the two nations, Hsiao said. The issue could damage Denmark’s image and business reputation in Taiwan,
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Taiwan climbed to its highest position in global export rankings in more than three decades last year, buoyed by demand linked to artificial intelligence (AI) that lifted shipments of semiconductors and technology products, Ministry of Finance data released yesterday showed. Taiwan accounted for 2.4 percent of global exports last year, or about US$640 billion, ranking 12th worldwide, the data showed. That was up four places from a year earlier and marked the nation’s best ranking since 1994, the ministry said. Taiwan’s share of global exports rose by 0.5 percentage points from the previous year, the largest increase among major economies, reflecting the nation’s
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