Prosecutors yesterday questioned Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲), while members of the other two main political parties called on Ko, a former Taipei mayor, to come clean about the ongoing corruption probe.
Ko was taken by bailiffs to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, where he was questioned for two-and-a-half hours in the morning, returning at about noon to the Taipei Detention Center in New Taipei City, where he has been held in pretrial detention since Sept. 5.
In the afternoon, prosecutors reportedly asked Pong about his role while working in Ko’s mayoral administration and about details of a Core Pacific City redevelopment project.
Photo: Chen Tsai-ling, Taipei Times
Prosecutors allege that Ko’s administration approved an increase to 840 percent from 560 percent of the floor area ratio of the project, which would have benefitted Core Pacific Group to the tune of tens of billions of New Taiwan dollars.
Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) said that Ko and Pong should tell the truth about alleged flows of cash between the former city administration and Core Pacific Group.
Prosecutors have deciphered a list of names and figures on a USB drive seized from Ko during a search of his residence in late August, Chien said, citing unnamed sources.
Entries of “500” and “1500” on the device referred to sums of NT$5 million (US$155,400) and NT$15 million that were allegedly transferred from Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) to Ko as “political donations” to the TPP, Chien said, adding that the entries were dated soon after Ko’s administration approved the floor area ratio change, as well as an earlier green light in 2022 for construction to start.
“The flow of money has been mapped by prosecutors, which is what Ko and TPP officials were afraid of,” she said. “They can no longer deny their involvement and should give a clear accounting.”
“Where is the money? Is it stashed? What else is hidden from the public” she asked.
Separately, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Yu Shu-hui (游淑慧) called on Ko to cooperate with prosecutors.
“Ko is TPP chairman and a former Taipei mayor, so he has an obligation to explain what took place and a duty to work with prosecutors,” Yu said.
Yesterday was the fifth time that Ko had been questioned since the probe began in the final week of August and the seventh for Pong.
In a previous session two weeks ago, Ko refused to be questioned.
“It is not right for Ko to refuse to cooperate and not provide information,” Yu said.
“If he believes he is innocent, then he could appeal to be released from the pretrial detention, but he did not. Instead, he has resisted and pushed TPP members to claim the probe is political persecution,” Yu added.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
NON-RED SUPPLY: Boosting the nation’s drone industry is becoming increasingly urgent as China’s UAV dominance could become an issue in a crisis, an analyst said Taiwan’s drone exports to Europe grew 41.7-fold from 2024 to last year, with demand from Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression the most likely driver of growth, a study showed. The Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) in a statement on Wednesday said it found that many of Taiwan’s uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) sales were from Poland and the Czech Republic. These countries likely transferred the drones to Ukraine to aid it in its fight against the Russian invasion that started in 2022, it said. Despite the gains, Taiwan is not the dominant drone exporter to these markets, ranking second and fourth
The eastern extension of the Taipei MRT Red Line could begin operations as early as late June, the Taipei Department of Rapid Transit Systems said yesterday. Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said it is considering offering one month of free rides on the new section to mark its opening. Construction progress on the 1.4km extension, which is to run from the current terminal Xiangshan Station to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, was 90.6 percent complete by the end of last month, the department said in a report to the Taipei City Council's Transportation Committee. While construction began in October 2016 with an
RSS