Former Taipei Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) asserted his innocence in the Core Pacific City corruption case yesterday, hours after the death of his wife in Kaohsiung, despite having confessed to his involvement during an interrogation last year.
Upon hearing the news of his wife’s passing while waiting for a court session at the Taipei District Court, Pong broke down in tears, asserted his innocence to prosecutors, and revealed he had considered taking his own life while detained to prove his innocence.
Overcome with emotion, Pong cried out, “Why was I born in this country?” The court initially proposed sending him to a hospital for treatment, but ultimately decided to let him return home under the care of his younger brother.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The Kaohsiung City Fire Bureau reported receiving a call at 9:01am about a person falling from a building. Firefighters found a 72-year-old woman, surnamed Hsieh, deceased with multiple fractures. She was later identified as Pong’s wife.
The Taipei District Court had been scheduled to review Pong’s interrogation recording that morning, but canceled the session due to the sudden news of his wife’s death.
In response to the news of Pong’s wife’s passing, the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), of which Pong is a member, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus and ruling Democratic Progressive Party caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) all expressed their condolences.
Pong was indicted in December last year, along with former Taipei mayor and former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), in connection with a corruption case.
Prosecutors said the officials accepted bribes from the company to illegally increase the permissible floor area ratio of a redevelopment project, thereby inflating the property’s value by allowing more space to be built and sold.
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