Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) yesterday accused Taipei mayoral independent candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of corruption, tax evasion and money laundering while serving as head of National Taiwan University Hospital’s (NTUH) surgical intensive care unit (SICU).
Ko’s campaign office denied the allegations and sued Lo for defamation.
Lo told a press conference yesterday morning that Ko had “privately” set up an account called MG149 under the hospital’s special account “402,” which was originally set up for donations to stamp out “red envelope culture.”
Photo: CNA
According to Lo and the documents she provided, which included the “MG149 regulations” allegedly drawn up by Ko himself, the capital for the account comes from sponsorships from subcontractors, enterprises or individuals, research and clinical trial funding, capitation tax from the unit’s team members and earnings of research assistants and research nurses from institutions outside the NTUH.
Citing the clinical trial funding as an example, Lo said: “The regulations [allegedly drawn up by Ko] state that the remainder of the clinical trial funding after deducting the required expenditure is to be shared fifty-fifty: half is to go to the person who presided over the trial and half to the MG149 account, which can later be transferred to the SICU common fund account, but would require payment of ‘10 percent as a money laundering fee.’”
“Ko is also guilty of encouraging tax evasion since these regulations point out that participants can first donate and then withdraw [the money from the account] to claim income tax deductions,” Lo added.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
When asked whether there are other NTUH departments that have similar accounts, Lo said there might be, but “no one would do it as overtly as Ko did.”
“The MG149 bank system, which could not have been publicly set up, used figurehead accounts,” Lo said, adding that the system even provided “loan services” to those in need.
Lo called Ko “a black force in the white tower” who had been “covering his illegal activities with legal formalities.”
“I’ve had of these documents for more than six months, and I had warned Ko that if he decided to run for office I would make them public,” she said.
Lo went to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office after the press conference to call for an investigation into the matter.
According to a copy of the so-called “MG149 regulations” that Lo made public, the “motto of the establishment of MG149” is that “money may not be omnificent, but lack thereof could be a disaster.”
“In order to avoid conflict within the team because of money problems, the SICU research fee shall be managed based on the following principles: (1) open rules, rather than personal will, dominate the spending management; (2) routine displays of expenditure details; (3) separation of ownership and management,” the MG149 regulations state.
Ko’s campaign office issued a statement yesterday afternoon rebutting the accusations, saying the MG149 account is an NTUH public — rather than Ko’s private — account and that all attending physicians and higher-ranked officials in public hospitals have special accounts for research.
The statement underscored the aim of the regulations, which is the institutionalization of the fund management, to lower risks of legal violations. It accused Lo of quoting text out of context to distort its aim.
“Not a penny from the account went to Ko’s pocket,” Ko’s spokesperson Chien Yu-yen (簡余晏) said. “Lo is crying wolf, for the fifth time.”
“The prosecution and investigation units conducted an in-depth and thorough probe into Ko’s research funds and the [MG149] account from 2012 to 2013. The case closed in 2013 and nothing illegal was found,” Chien said.
“This is defamation and a serious accusation during the campaign period. If Lo cannot present concrete evidence to support her accusations, we will take legal action,” she said.
Ko’s campaign director, Yao Li-ming (姚立明), asked whether KMT Taipei mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) endorses Lo’s remarks and behavior, and whether the documents that Lo presented came from prosecutors or the “KMT administration’s top echelons.”
Yao said that using mudslinging as a campaign tactic would not win the public’s support.
It was not the first time that Lo accused Ko of wrongdoing during his time as a physician. She claimed that Ko, dubbed the “father of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation” technology in Taiwan, does not know how to install the life-support equipment, and alleged that Ko had treated patients as “guinea pigs” in clinical trials.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as