Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said the City’s Department of Government Ethics is looking into two land development cases approved under former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) administration, as city councilors have raised speculation about Ko allegedly allowing some companies to profit.
The Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday reported that the Ko administration had allowed the floor area ratio of Core Pacific City Co (京華城), a shopping mall in Songshan District (松山), to increase from 392 percent to 840 percent.
Core Pacific Group (威京集團) was suspected of profiting from the increased floor area ration, it said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
It also reported that the Ko administration in 2021 had allowed Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) to win the bid for a 50-year surface rights to plot T17 and T18 in the Beitou Shilin Science Park (北投士林科技園區) without needing an investment plan.
As the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), of which Ko is founder and chairperson, allowed former Shin Kong Life Insurance Co vice president Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈), who is the granddaughter of Shin Kong Group founder Wu Ho-su (吳火獅), to fill a legislative seat vacancy the following year, the Ko administration was suspected of aiding the company, it said.
Democratic Progressive Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) city councilors have been gathering signatures to propose the establishment of a special investigation team to look into the cases, and they plan to propose it on Wednesday, the report said.
Chiang said the Department of Government Ethics has already begun investigating the two cases, and the city government would “do whatever is necessary” if problems are uncovered.
“We will not treat them wrongly, if they are innocent, nor let them off easily if they are not,” he said.
Meanwhile, the TPP Taipei City Council caucus yesterday issued a news release saying the party holds a rational, scientific and practical attitude in facing and solving problems, so it supports the city council forming an investigation team to transparently look into the cases.
It said the city government should publicize all related meeting minutes and have specialists and academics review them, along with another case involving Taiwan Intelligent Fiber Optic Network Consortium (TAIFO, 台灣智慧光網).
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”
RSS