Former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reasserted in court claims that prosecutors tried to blackmail him, asking for video of his interrogation to be released "so the public can see how I was treated."
Ko, who finished third with 26.46 percent of the vote in Taiwan's 2024 presidential election, appeared in court yesterday for the first time since receiving two days of medical treatment for a kidney stone earlier this month.
The former Taiwan People's Party (TPP) chairman used the hearing at the Taipei District Court to again accuse prosecutor Lin Chun-yen (林俊言) of misconduct.
Photo: CNA
In his first court appearance on March 20, Ko said that Lin had threatened to release "obscene footage" allegedly found on a seized hard drive if he did not confess during his interrogation.
In response to the allegation, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office denied it and filed a motion with the Taipei District Court to publicly examine the video of Ko's interrogation and the seized hard drive.
Ko has been detained by prosecutors for over eight months and was indicted in December for bribery, favoritism, embezzlement and breach of public trust offenses.
The charges date back to his second term as mayor of Taipei from 2018 to 2022 and during his run in the 2024 presidential race.
Thursday's hearing was partly held to hear the opinions of Ko and the prosecutors regarding a request by a lawyer for two suspects, Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) and Lee Wen-chuan (李文娟), for copies of Ko's phone data and hard drive.
It was also held to determine whether evidence used by prosecutors to indict Ko, including testimonies from former Taipei Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) and Shao Hsiu-pei (邵琇珮), former executive secretary at the city government's Urban Planning Commission, was admissible.
Pong and Shao told a pre-trial hearing in January that they agreed with the prosecution's portrayal of their role in Ko's alleged taking of bribes from real estate tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京).
Prosecutors claim that Sheen paid the money so his Core Pacific Group could obtain a higher floor area ratio for a project in Taipei's Songshan District.
Ko's lawyers, Cheng Shen-yuan (鄭深元) and Hsiao Yi-hung (蕭奕弘), argued that Pong and Shao may have been subject to "improper interrogation" by prosecutors.
During questioning, prosecutors asked Pong if he was "okay with ending up like Yu Wen (余文)," implying that Pong would become a scapegoat unless Pong provided a statement against Ko, Ko's lawyers said at the hearing.
Yu Wen, a former secretary to former President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) during his time as Taipei mayor, was found guilty of graft in 2008 for using fraudulent receipts to claim reimbursements from Ma's special mayoral allowance fund and was sentenced to 14 months. Ma was not found guilty in the case.
Meanwhile, Ko told the court he had not engaged in corruption or embezzled political donations, adding that even after eight months in detention, he still did not know what wrongdoing he was accused of.
Ko also said he had been subject to prolonged and exhausting interrogations, which are illegal in Taiwan, and urged the court to review the video of his questioning on Aug. 30.
In response, Prosecutor Chiang Chang-chih (姜長志) said Ko had been offered breaks during the interrogation but had declined.
The Taipei District Prosecutors' Office is seeking a 28.5-year prison sentence for Ko. Ten other suspects were also indicted in these cases.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS