Former Taipei urban development department head Huang Ching-mao (黃景茂) was released on NT$5 million (US$156,289) bail early yesterday after being questioned by prosecutors over his alleged role in a corruption scandal linked to the Core Pacific City redevelopment project.
The Agency Against Corruption questioned Huang as a witness on Friday and later listed him as a suspect for allegedly benefiting from the Core Pacific Group (威京集團).
He was questioned by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office at about 6pm the same day and was released on NT$5 million bail at about 1am on Saturday.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Huang is forbidden from leaving Taiwan or changing his residence.
Prosecutors said that Huang allegedly helped Core Pacific Group raise the floor area ratio (FAR) of the redevelopment project in 2020 to boost the value of the property. The project involved building a new office complex named Core Pacific Plaza on the site of the Core Pacific City shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山).
During a meeting with Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) on March 10, 2020, then-Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) allegedly said he would handle Core Pacific City’s FAR, which he directed to the Taipei City Urban Development Department in the same month, investigators found.
Prosecutors said Ying allegedly acted as a go-between for Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) and high-ranking city officials, including then-Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲).
Core Pacific City submitted an application for a floor area reward program in July 2020, which Huang and Pong approved, and forwarded it to the Urban Planning Committee for review, they said.
However, the Ko administration and Core Pacific City were engaged in an administrative lawsuit at the time, and the committee held its first meeting before the outcome of the lawsuit.
Pong and Huang allegedly approved the program based solely on a one-page report submitted by Core Pacific City, prosecutors said.
Based on documents obtained during their investigation, prosecutors said that Ko, Huang and Peng allegedly facilitated the approval of Core Pacific City’s floor area reward, effectively giving it the green light.
It is still under investigation whether Huang and Pong acted on direct orders from Ko or on their own.
Ko has said he knew nothing about the redevelopment project’s FAR.
Ko, Pong, Sheen, Ying and Ying’s assistant Wu Shun-min (吳順民) are being detained and held incommunicado amid their suspected involvement in the case.
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