The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday said it would not appeal the city court’s decision to uphold former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) release on bail of NT$70 million (US$2.31 million).
Ko was released on Sept. 8, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was also held in detention for the same case, was released on NT$30 million bail on Sept. 5.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Ko and Ying had been held incommunicado since September and August last year respectively.
On Sept. 9, prosecutors filed an appeal against Ko’s release, requesting that he be detained until they finish questioning witnesses next month.
They also said that key witnesses had not yet given their testimonies, and that Ko had contacted witnesses Chen Chih-han (陳智菡) and Chen You-cheng (陳宥丞) after posting bail, contravening his bail conditions.
On Sept. 12, the High Court overturned the bail decision, ordering the Taipei District Court to hear the appeal.
The High Court said that Ko and Ying must not contact, harass or intimidate other defendants or witnesses in the case to prevent collusion.
Although Ko and Ying must wear an electronic tagging device on their ankle and comply with mobile phone tracking according to the conditions of their release, there are concerns about whether these conditions can be effectively implemented, it said.
On Monday last week, the Taipei District Court once again approved Ko and Ying’s release, ruling that existing testimonies and court documents are sufficient for the upcoming trial, and that the high bail amount and movement restrictions would pressure them to comply.
Prosecutors yesterday said that they respect the court’s ruling and would not appeal again, focusing instead on legal claims and debates at the core of the trial.
In yesterday’s statement, prosecutors said that the High Court’s revocation indicated that their appeal was justified, refuting claims from “a certain party” that they were “detaining people to force them to confess” or that they wanted to “detain Ko until his death.”
They added that the district court, in all its detention and bail rulings, including the most recent one, deemed that Ko and Ying were suspected of corruption and posed risks of collusion or tampering with evidence.
Expressing doubts about whether bail conditions can be duly implemented, the prosecution said that they would continue to monitor the defendant for any violations and request the court to reconsider the necessity for detention if they find any evidence of transgression.
Ko, who founded and chaired the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), and Ying, were among 11 people indicted in December last year in connection with a corruption case in which Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) is alleged to have bribed the then-Taipei mayor.
Ko faces a potential sentence of 28-and-a-half years for allegedly accepting bribes of NT$17.1 million in a property development deal during his tenure as Taipei mayor and embezzling political donations last year during his presidential campaign as leader of the TPP.
Additional reporting by CNA
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