The Taipei District Court yesterday began hearing oral arguments in high-profile cases against former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is accused of accepting bribes in a property development deal and misappropriating political donations.
Prosecutors said Ko knowingly intervened in the Core Pacific City development project dispute during his tenure as mayor, despite repeated warnings from city officials to resolve it through legal channels.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
They said that Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) repeatedly lobbied the Taipei City Government between 2010 and 2018 with little success.
However, after 2020, Ko approved almost all of Sheen's requests, including changes to the development project's detailed plans and floor area ratio (FAR), prosecutors said.
They alleged that Ko was aware of the large financial stakes involved and that he and Sheen coordinated their actions to secure unlawful benefits.
Ko, speaking briefly to reporters outside the court, rejected the allegations as politically motivated.
"Courts should focus on facts and evidence, not compile stories based on conjecture," he said, without elaborating.
Ko, the founder and former chair of the Taiwan People's Party, was among 11 people indicted in December last year in a corruption case in which Sheen is alleged to have bribed Ko in exchange for favorable treatment.
The investigation into the project started amid suspicion about the sharp increase in the FAR — the total floor space of a building divided by the size of the land it sits on — from 560 percent to 840 percent.
Ko faces a potential sentence of 28.5 years for allegedly accepting bribes of NT$17.1 million (US$543,789) in the property development deal and embezzling political donations during his presidential campaign last year.
Yesterday's oral arguments centered on the prosecutors' indictment.
Today, Ko and his legal team are expected to present their defense.
Ko maintains that he is innocent and that the corruption charges against him are politically motivated.
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