The Taipei District Court yesterday approved the seizure of NT$38.83 million (US$1.19 million) from Muko Public Relations (木可行銷公關), a company associated with the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), for alleged falsified accounting and unlawful transfer of funds for personal profiteering.
Taipei prosecutors also summoned former TPP chief financial officer Liang Hsiu-chu (梁秀菊) for questioning yesterday.
She was released afterward.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was summoned on Tuesday for two questioning sessions, first in the morning by Taipei prosecutors, then in the afternoon by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB), which was investigating the party’s political donations and campaign funds money flow.
Taipei prosecutors in a release said they had filed an application to the Taipei District Court to seize Muko’s assets.
Prosecutors said they had uncovered numerous financial items that were supposed to be political donation campaign finances for Ko and the TPP, but were transferred to Muko accounts for alleged unlawful use by Ko and his family.
Set up in late 2022, Muko was located next to the TPP’s office in Taipei, and was managed by Lee Wen-chuan (李文娟), sister of Ko’s long-time friend, Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗).
The company handled donations for Ko’s presidential campaign, and earned revenue from Ko’s appearances, “concert events,” and sale of merchandise bearing the “kp” logo.
Muko is one of three private entities set up by Ko and his inner circle for receiving political contributions, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Yu Shu-hui (游淑慧) said.
TPP officials in a statement yesterday denied that Ko had misappropriated party funds.
After errors and missing account records were uncovered earlier this year, Ko instructed party members to double-check accounting reports and clarify the party’s finances to the public during a news conference in August, it said.
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
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
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS