Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) was on Thursday released on an additional bail of NT$30 million (US$941,029) after the Taipei District Court earlier in the day sentenced him to 10 years in prison for bribery in the Core Pacific City case.
Sheen would also be deprived of his civil rights for five years, after the court ruled that he had paid NT$52.5 million in bribes to Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇) from 2017 to 2022, and NT$2.1 million to then-Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) in 2020.
The bribes were for favorable treatment for Sheen’s real estate development project, including allowing the project to have more floor space than regulations would normally permit.
Photo: CNA
Sheen said he felt “deeply aggrieved” by the ruling and maintained his innocence..
“The prosecutors, in targeting Ko, forced me to implicate him, causing me immense physical and mental suffering,” Sheen said.
The court in its verdict said Sheen intended to bribe officials to breach their duties.
He had instructed seven Core Pacific Group employees to withdraw company funds and transfer NT$300,000 each to a Taiwan People’s Party political donation account controlled by Ko, it said.
Text messages between former Dingyue Development Corp president Chu Yea-hu (朱亞虎) and then-director of Ko’s mayoral office Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) indicated that Ko was aware of and received the NT$2.1 million.
A detention hearing was held for Ko and three others, during which judges ruled that the original NT$180 million bail for Sheen and NT$35 million for Ying were not enough to prevent them from fleeing, and ordered each of them to put up an additional NT$30 million in bail.
Ying was sentenced to 15 years and six months in prison, along with a six-year deprivation of civil rights, for pressuring city government officials to facilitate approval of the Core Pacific City development project.
The original bail conditions were upheld for Ko, who was sentenced to 17 years in jail, and said he was innocent and would “not surrender.”
He is banned from traveling abroad, and is required to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet.
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