Prosecutors have listed former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) as a suspect in a corruption probe relating to the Core Pacific City (京華城) shopping mall redevelopment and the Beitou Shilin Science Park (北投士林科技園區) project.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday confirmed the investigation after receiving complaints from third parties alleging misconduct, illegal profiteering, and questionable negotiation and approval procedures on the two projects in contravention of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
The development came after more documents, meeting records and other evidence surfaced, and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors set up two investigation committees with the authority to call upon Ko and city government officials to question their involvement.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
In the Core Pacific City shopping mall redevelopment project in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山), Ko allegedly had overseen the negotiations and signed an agreement to increase the floor area ratio (FAR) from 392 percent to 840 percent, which would allow the mall’s owner, Core Pacific Group (威京集團), to derive extra financial gains of more than NT$40 billion (US$1.23 billion), DPP Taipei city councilors Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) and Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) said.
“This is the key evidence showing that Ko abused his authority to allow a large corporation to illegally benefit,” Hsu said.
Core Pacific Group applied to dismantle the mall, which had been losing money, to build combined commercial and luxury residential buildings, and requested the city government to grant a much higher than normal FAR of 840 percent, she said.
Increased FAR is usually granted as an incentive in urban renewal projects to permit more floor area, but usually at 130 to 150 percent.
“The 840 percent is the highest ever in city history; no other landowner or business has come close to getting so much,” Hsu said, adding that it amounted to Ko giving Core Pacific Group more than 1,000 ping (3,306m2) for free.
“We have many city residents who have applied for an urban renewal project and they cannot even get 1 ping at old building for 1 ping at the new building, and only a few get a slightly higher FAR, but Ko’s approval of 840 percent means Core Pacific Group was able to trade in 1 ping and get 4 ping for the new redevelopment project,” she said.
In the other case, Ko is suspected of using illicit means to favor Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) winning 50-year surface rights to plots T17 and T18 at the Beitou Shilin Science Park without needing an investment plan.
Chien said after construction work began at the science park, the city government posted public tenders for plots T16, T17 and T18 in 2019.
Shin Kong Life Insurance secured the latter two plots, despite not having an investment plan to attract science and technology companies, while other bidders allegedly had submitted higher bids, she said.
Chien alleged that Ko was looking for financial support from large corporations for TPP candidates’ election campaigns, while the science park deal led to Ko naming Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈), a granddaughter of Shin Kong Group’s founder, on the party’s legislators-at-large list.
She later served as a TPP legislator from 2020 to January, then ran alongside Ko as the vice presidential candidate in January’s presidential election.
Taipei prosecutors said they are coordinating with Ministry of Justice Agency Against Corruption to investigate.
KMT city councilors submitted materials to the the Control Yuan and demanded an investigation into Ko.
A drunk woman was sexually assaulted inside a crowded concourse of Taipei Railway Station on Thursday last week before a foreign tourist notified police, leading to calls for better education on bystander intervention and review of security infrastructure. The man, surnamed Chiu (邱), was taken into custody on charges of sexual assault, taking advantage of the woman’s condition and public indecency. Police discovered that Chiu was a fugitive with prior convictions for vehicle theft. He has been taken into custody and is to complete his unserved six-month sentence, police said. On Thursday last week, Chiu was seen wearing a white
The Taoyuan Flight Attendants’ Union yesterday vowed to protest at the EVA Air Marathon on Sunday next week should EVA Airway Corp’s management continue to ignore the union’s petition to change rules on employees’ leave of absence system, after a flight attendant reportedly died after working on a long-haul flight while ill. The case has generated public discussion over whether taking personal or sick leave should affect a worker’s performance review. Several union members yesterday protested at the Legislative Yuan, holding white flowers and placards, while shouting: “Life is priceless; requesting leave is not a crime.” “The union is scheduled to meet with
‘UNITED FRONT’ RHETORIC: China’s TAO also plans to hold weekly, instead of biweekly, news conferences because it wants to control the cross-strait discourse, an expert said China’s plan to expand its single-entry visa-on-arrival service to Taiwanese would be of limited interest to Taiwanese and is a feeble attempt by Chinese administrators to demonstrate that they are doing something, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said the program aims to facilitate travel to China for Taiwanese compatriots, regardless of whether they are arriving via direct flights or are entering mainland China through Hong Kong, Macau or other countries, and they would be able to apply for a single-entry visa-on-arrival at all eligible entry points in China. The policy aims
The government yesterday donated US$200,000 to the Philippines to support post-earthquake relief and recovery efforts, following a powerful magnitude 6.9 quake that struck Cebu Province late last month, killing at least 72 people and injuring 559 others. The donation was presented earlier yesterday by Representative to the Philippines Wallace Chow (周民淦) to Cherbett Maralit, deputy resident representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, at Taiwan’s representative office in Manila. In his remarks, Chow expressed concern for those affected by the magnitude 6.9 earthquake that struck the central Philippines on the night of Sept. 30. "We sincerely hope for the earliest possible
RSS