The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) today demanded the release of its leader Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) after he was indicted earlier in the day on corruption charges, saying that he was innocent and that prosecutors could not provide any “proper” evidence.
Ko, a former two-term Taipei mayor, was charged with bribe-taking, illegally benefiting others, embezzlement, and breach of trust in connection with the Core Pacific City development case and the handling of his presidential campaign contributions.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office could not state when and where Ko allegedly received a bribe of NT$15 million (US$460,000), smearing him without providing any evidence, TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) told a press conference today, referring to the amount which Ko is accused of having received in return for illegally helping developer Core Pacific Group increase one of its projects' value during Ko's second mayoral term.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
Taipei prosecutors accused Ko of taking NT$15 million from Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), founder and chairman of Core Pacific Group, and an additional NT$2.1 million through Sheen's proxies.
The prosecutors have not disclosed a list of evidence “because there is none,” Huang said.
“We believe Ko is innocent and have held on to this belief throughout the past four months” Huang said, adding that Ko is being politically persecuted.
Ko was never involved in the deliberation of Core Pacific City’s floor area ratio (FAR) and handled the case in a lawful manner, he said.
"Today is one of the darkest days for Taiwan's democracy," TPP Central Committee member Lin Fu-nan (林富男) told the news conference.
"Over the past four months, the administration of (President) William Lai (賴清德) colluded with the (Democratic Progressive) Party, the police and the media to besmirch my party in an attempt to eliminate it," he said.
The information in the indictment appeared to be "pieced together from random sources" without detailing cash flows, failing to account for "where" and "how" Ko took the alleged bribes, Lin said.
"Ko was a presidential candidate supported by 3.69 million citizens, and politically persecuting him is tantamount to undercutting the rights of 3.69 million Taiwanese people who exercised their will," Lin said.
TPP supporters or “little grasses” gathered outside the Taipei District Prosecutors Office this afternoon to show their support for Ko, calling for his release.
A 70-year-old woman, surnamed Kung (龔), said she came to show her support for Ko because his indictment was “fabricated” and the judiciary is being “unfair.”
A man said that all of his thoughts were written on yellow flags that bore slogans saying “today Ko, tomorrow anyone,” “political persecution” and “we believe Ko is innocent.”
The police deployed 20 personnel to the spot and imposed traffic controls as they expected that more TPP supporters would arrive outside the Taipei District Prosecutors Office later today.
Ko and 10 accomplices were also accused of pocketing tens of millions of NT dollars from political donations to the TPP.
Prosecutors are seeking a total sentence of 28.5 years for Ko, including 15 years for bribery, 5 years and 6 years for separate cases of embezzlement, and 2.5 years for breach of public trust.
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