Investigators today questioned more than 10 people, including former Taipei City Government employees who worked on Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) presidential campaign, over a case involving improper campaign finance reporting.
Taipei prosecutors instructed the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s Taipei division to question TPP Secretary-General Vincent Chou (周榆修), spokesperson Tai Yu-wen (戴于文) and several others in the illegal campaign finance reporting case.
They are to decide later today whether to send the witnesses to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for further questioning.
Photo: Liu Ching-hou, Taipei Times
The case involves irregular payments made to the marketing firm Muko (木可行銷公關) and other firms associated with the TPP, and mistakes in campaign finance reports for Ko’s presidential campaign earlier this year.
Investigators in August searched the company offices and questioned seven people in the case, releasing four on bail.
The Prestige Care Foundation, which is run by former Ko campaign finance manager Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗), has also been accused of improperly reporting its finances for last year.
Investigators are now trying to determine whether there is any connection between the foundation’s irregular reporting and the campaign finance case.
The foundation said today that it would publish its records from last year for public scrutiny.
The Taipei Department of Social Welfare said it had already received the records it requested from the foundation and would forward them to investigators.
Lee, who is already in custody during ongoing investigations in a separate case, was questioned on Friday last week by the bureau.
The people questioned today worked for Ko’s campaign after leaving the Taipei City Government, with some reportedly being paid through the foundation.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s