The High Court yesterday rejected the appeals of four defendants in a corruption investigation involving a redevelopment project in Taipei that has embroiled Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲), Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) and Ying’s assistant Wu Shun-min (吳順民) all lost their appeals against the Taipei District Court’s decision to detain them late last week.
They are accused of contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例) by illegally lobbying the Taipei City Government to increase the floor area ratio of the Core Pacific City project to raise its value.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Ko, who was Taipei mayor at the time, was ordered detained on Thursday after previously being released without bail in an earlier decision that was sent back by the High Court.
He can appeal the decision, but had not done so as of press time last night.
There was evidence Pong attempted to tamper with evidence and colluded with other defendants to lie about details concerning the case, the High Court said in its decision.
Sheen and Wu had no reason to appeal, the court said, adding that while Sheen had been granted medical parole, he was returned to prison and was continuing his treatment there.
Ying’s appeal was denied because her suspected crime is serious and holds a minimum penalty of five years in prison, the court said.
There is also reason to believe she might attempt to flee, collude or tamper with evidence, it said.
Ying was taken into custody after prosecutors found that she had attempted to fly to Hong Kong on Tuesday last week.
Prosecutors had stopped Ying at immigration and brought her in for questioning.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach
RSS