A close aide of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is a person of interest in the corruption case against Ko, has been declared wanted by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB).
The aide, Hsu Chih-yu (許芷瑜), was recently added to the bureau’s Fugitive Online Query System, which showed that she went abroad on Aug. 29 last year, and that she might be in Japan or Australia.
The system indicated the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office issued an arrest warrant on Oct. 24 last year for the 38-year-old Hsu, nicknamed “Orange,” suspecting that she contravened the Anti-Corruption Act (貪汙治罪條例) and other laws in connection with Ko’s case.
Photo: CNA
Taipei prosecutors indicted the 65-year-old Ko, who is also the founder and former chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), on Dec. 26 last year on corruption charges, including taking bribes, related to real-estate issues during his second term as Taipei mayor from 2018 to 2022.
Ko, the TPP’s presidential candidate in last year’s presidential election, was also charged with embezzling political donations to the party during the campaign. Prosecutors requested a total sentence of 28 years and six months.
According to prosecutors, Ko allegedly entrusted Hsu with bribes after receiving them.
Taipei prosecutors said that after failing to secure Hsu’s return through her friends, they issued a warrant for her arrest based on the law because she “ignored a legal summons without valid reason and could not be located for arrest.”
The Bureau of Consular Affairs has been also asked to cancel Hsu’s passport, and a request for extradition has been made through judicial cooperation channels, prosecutors said.
The MJIB said that efforts to track Hsu’s whereabouts are ongoing, adding that legal attaches posted abroad would seek judicial assistance from countries Hsu might have traveled through.
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