The Taipei District Court today decided to extend the detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and three others who are accused of bribery and embezzlement in the Core Pacific City corruption case.
The four suspects are to be held incommunicado for another two months starting from Wednesday next week.
The three other defendants are Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), founder and chairman of the real-estate conglomerate Core Pacific Group, Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) and Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗), finance chief of Ko's election campaign.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
The court also rejected Sheen’s application for bail, while it has not yet decided on Ko’s application, which was made by his lawyer yesterday.
The Taipei District Court held a hearing on Thursday last week to decide on whether to extend their detention before it expires on Tuesday.
During the hearing, Ko said he would not flee because the Taiwan People’s Party would collapse otherwise, and that there is no point in falsifying evidence, as the information is limited.
Sheen said he wished to be granted medical parole, describing the environment in the Taipei Detention Center as so poor that it has triggered eczema and multiple fistula infections.
He said he found clots that looked like “red sugar cubes” in his excrement in January, and that it is life endangering, as there is no medical staff over the weekends.
Ying said she is willing to wear an electronic bracelet as her bail condition so that she could take care of her mother who is in her late 90s.
She said she would not flee and denied allegations of bribery and money laundering, adding that she was doing her job as a representative of public opinion.
Lee promised to accept electronic monitoring or report to police regularly.
He said he would not flee as he is too old to live abroad, adding that he would “definitely not” collude with others, as he now lives at his home in Hsinchu.
The court today decided that there is a risk that the defendants might flee or collude with others to destroy evidence, and ordered to extend their detention.
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