The wife of Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday posted online the couple’s annual income since 2015 in response to bribery allegations against Ko, who has been detained since early September.
Retired pediatrician Peggy Chen (陳佩琪) listed on Facebook the couple’s combined annual income from 2015 to last year based on their income tax filings, after writing a day earlier that she had been questioned by prosecutors on Wednesday.
The income she posted mostly ranged from NT$6 million to NT$8 million (US$186,829 to US$249,105), except in 2022 when it was NT$9,097,749 and last year when it was the NT$5,423,236.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Ko served two terms as Taipei mayor starting on Dec. 25, 2014. The physician-turned-politician founded the TPP in 2019 and unsuccessfully ran for president in January.
He was detained and held incommunicado on Sept. 5 after the couple was questioned by prosecutors over their alleged involvement in a corruption case involving the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project.
On Nov. 1, the Taipei District Court granted the prosecutors’ motion to extend Ko’s detention for another two months.
Chen posted a wedding photograph, a document said to cover Ko’s expenditures as mayor, and remarks she said she made when she was questioned last week.
“Describing him [Ko] as a bribe-taking corrupt criminal, who would pocket any money he could, is basically to shame him, to destroy him,” Chen wrote.
It was the second time Chen was questioned by prosecutors as part of their investigation into allegations that Ko used his position to illegally benefit the Core Pacific Group (威京集團) in redeveloping a site in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) during his second term as mayor from 2018 to 2022.
Prosecutors said he allegedly took bribes related to the project, but are still trying to obtain evidence to prove that charge.
Ko and Chen were first questioned by the Agency Against Corruption on Aug. 30 after prosecutors searched their home and his offices earlier that day. Former deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) was also questioned and detained.
A few days before they were questioned, prosecutors detained Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇) and several others for their alleged involvement in the case.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS