Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) today defended his purchase of office space near the Legislative Yuan, saying he followed conventional practice in using election subsidies to set up a personal office for long-term use.
Earlier in the morning, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said that Ko on May 10 purchased 48.76 ping (161.2m²) of office space in Taipei’s Jinan Building (濟南大樓), spending NT$43 million (US$1.35 million) in cash and signing under his name.
Lin questioned where Ko got the money from, as the former presidential candidate and his TPP have been under scrutiny in recent weeks over irregular campaign finance reporting and unusually high spending.
Photo: Ho Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Speaking to reporters at TPP headquarters, Ko said that he followed the example of other political parties in allocating one-third of election subsidy funds to the party headquarters and two-thirds to the candidate.
Ko said he used the two-thirds allocated to him to set up a personal office, which he plans to use long-term.
Vicky Chen (陳智菡), who served as Ko’s deputy campaign chief, said there are two kinds of party election accounts: one for political donations, and another for subsidies allocated to an individual candidate.
Ko gave most of his candidate subsidy to the party and used the rest to purchase the office, she said, adding that former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) also had a personal office when serving as DPP chairperson.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises. Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS’s coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued last night. The reports were “inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter,” it said. The hotel said it received a refund request from a
RSS