The Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday condemned the indictment of party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), accusing the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of persecuting a political rival and attempting to silence the 3.69 million Taiwanese who voted for Ko in this year’s presidential election.
TPP officials made the remarks at a news conference in response to the indictment of Ko, who has been 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. Prosecutors are seeking a total sentence of 28 years, 6 months for Ko, including 15 years for bribery, five years and six years for separate cases of embezzlement, and two-and-a-half years for breach of public trust.
“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.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
“Over the past four months, the administration of [President] William Lai (賴清德) colluded with the DPP, 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 the “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 who exercised their will,” Lin said.
TPP Legislator Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) also slammed what he said was the inability of the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office to produce any concrete evidence in the indictment, despite launching a probe that lasted four months.
The office ended the news conference yesterday morning about Ko’s indictment without a question-and-answer session, which showed its lack of confidence in its own investigation, Huang said.
Earlier in the day, the DPP urged the TPP to read the indictment and examine all the evidence before attempting to frame the prosecution as a miscarriage of justice.
“Should other wrongdoing [by Ko] be exposed and he receive a life sentence, the prison terms would be consolidated into 30 years at most,” DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) told a morning news conference at the legislature.
“If you do not pay back the illicit gains, you will get the maximum prison term, and there is almost no difference between 28-and-a-half years and 30 years,” Ker added.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that it remains steadfast in its stance that no crimes should go unpunished, but opposed any trumped-up charges.
In a statement, the KMT expressed hope that the judges would try the case in a fair and just manner so the Republic of China’s judicial system regains public trust.
The Taipei City Government yesterday said it does not rule out issuing a stop-work order for a property redevelopment construction site involved in the bribery case.
The city government said it would hold a meeting to discuss the floor area ratio and other matters in connection with the Core Pacific City redevelopment project within the next two weeks following the release of the indictment against Ko.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book