Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) made the main decisions and gave final approval in the Core Pacific City redevelopment project, Taipei city councilors said in a report on Tuesday, while others were questioned yesterday over details of a corruption investigation linked to the property.
Taipei prosecutors are investigating allegations that Ko, during his time as Taipei mayor, and others profited from corruption linked to the mall project.
Prosecutors yesterday questioned — for the fourth time each — former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) and Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), who are both in pretrial detention, while on Tuesday they questioned for the third time former Taipei Urban Planning Commission head Lin Jou-min (林洲民).
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
Prosecutors reportedly sought to verify Pong’s earlier testimony that Ko had intervened at commission meetings in 2020 and 2021, instructing city officials to increase the floor area ratio for the project.
Pong had told prosecutors that Ko told him to ensure the ratio was raised and approved the project.
Taipei city councilors and others have accused Ko of accepting bribes and kickbacks from Sheen after the project was approved.
Investigators are looking into accounts to determine whether the floor area ratio change enabled Core Pacific Group to boost the value of the property.
Taipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) of the Democratic Progressive Party said that the ratio change added more than NT$40 billion (US$1.26 billion) to its value.
Meanwhile, at Taipei City Hall, councilors on Tuesday presented a report that said meeting minutes mostly confirmed Pong’s testimony.
Headed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Yu Shu-hui (游淑慧), the team began work in May to compile the minutes from meetings related to the project and posted them online for public viewing.
The report quoted Pong as saying that Ko in 2020 ordered him to work on the redevelopment project, appointing him as project manager.
Separately, Japanese academic Yoshiyuki Ogasawara in Hsinchu yesterday said that Ko would fight to extend his political career, despite the corruption scandal, and that people should not count out the TPP.
Ogasawara is a guest lecturer at National Tsing Hua University’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
“After the presidential election, support for the TPP has declined steadily and dwindled even more after the accusations emerged, but Ko still has his core support at about 10 percent and the party still has eight legislative seats, he said.
The lawmakers can maintain their volume in public discourse and would continue to operate, until perhaps next year, when there might be a big change for it, depending on how the cases against Ko go, he added.
Separately, Taipei prosecutors are expanding their investigation into allegations that Ko illegally benefited by taking control of TPP funds and might be involved in money laundering.
My-Formosa.com chairman Wu Tzu-chia (吳子嘉) said that prosecutors have found evidence at Ko’s residence of irregular money flows and missing party funds.
Wu said that Ko set up four entities to facilitate money transfers and used a USB drive for cryptocurrency transactions.
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