Taipei prosecutors yesterday questioned Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) again, along with other witnesses, in a widening probe into allegations of corruption against Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Prosecutors are trying to map out a money trail to determine whether it involved and had directly or indirectly benefited Ko.
Ko is suspected of receiving kickbacks from Sheen during his tenure as Taipei mayor, with his administration approving in 2022 Sheen’s Core Pacific City redevelopment project.
Photo: Tu Chien-rong, Taipei Times
Company ledgers show that Sheen had allocated a total of NT$430 million (US$13.4 million at the current exchange rate) for the project’s publicity expenses: one for NT$180 million and another for NT$250 million, KMT Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平) and his DPP colleague Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) said.
Chung said he had received tip-offs that the NT$430 million went to pay lobbyists, politicians, government officials and councilors who lobbied or pushed the project.
Ko was among those who allegedly received money from the fund, Chung said.
Sheen allegedly transferred NT$45 million to foundations controlled by Ying, as she had “pressured” city officials to approve a proposal to raise the project’s floor area ratio to 840 percent, which would allow Core Pacific Group to reap more than NT$40 billion in extra financial gains, Chung said.
Chien said that a USB flash drive seized by investigators at Ko’s residence on Aug. 31 included an entry “Sheen Ching-jing, 1,500 2022/11/1,” which could be interpreted as NT$15 million from Sheen on Nov. 1, 2022.
That could be the amount of money Ko received a month after the project’s approval, Chien said.
Another entry around that time showed NT$25 million “from undetermined origins” going to an organization headed by Ko called the Taiwan Public Service Foundation, which could be another conduit for Sheen to pay kickbacks to Ko, Chien said.
Investigators have also found that Ko and his wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), had received NT$6.19 million in cash from unknown sources, and that Chen had deposited the money through multiple ATM transactions near their residence in Taipei, she said.
Chien said that the cash deposit transactions were uncovered by Taipei prosecutors, with the money being deposited to the accounts of Ko’s wife and their three children.
Chien accused the former mayor and his wife of accepting money from business group bosses, either as bribes, kickbacks or possibly for money laundering.
Ko was listed as a suspect in May when Taipei prosecutors launched its corruption probe, in connection with the Core Pacific City redevelopment project, and other construction and public procurement projects when Ko was mayor.
Ko has been placed in detention with restricted communication after questioning. Sheen, Ying and two other suspects are also in detention.
Prosecutors yesterday also questioned two new witnesses — former Taipei deputy mayor Lin Chin-jung (林欽榮), and another city government official. Lin was released without bail in the afternoon.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Police today said they are stepping up patrols throughout the Taipei MRT system, after a social media user threatened to detonate a bomb at an unspecified station this afternoon. Although they strongly believe the threat to be unsubstantiated, Taipei Metro police and the Railway Police Bureau still said that security and patrols would be heightened through the system. Many copycat messages have been posted since Friday’s stabbing attacks at Taipei Main Station and near Zhongshan MRT Station that left three dead and 11 injured, police said. Last night, a Threads user in a post said they would detonate a bomb on the Taipei
RSS