The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday summoned two of independent Taipei mayoral candidate Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) colleagues when he was working at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) as part of its investigation into corruption allegations.
Liu Ju-yi (劉如意), the administrative secretary of the hospital’s surgical intensive care unit (SICU) team, was summoned by prosecutors to testify on corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering allegations made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) and former KMT legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅).
Another of Ko’s former colleagues, Tsai Pi-ju (蔡璧如), the director of the hospital’s extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) team, was also questioned by prosecutors.
Photo: Wang Min-wei, Taipei Times
Lo has alleged that as the head of the SICU team, Ko set up two public accounts under the name “MG149,” as well as a private SICU account shared by all team members, and used the accounts for taking bribes, money laundering and tax evasion.
Earlier in the week, Chiu also alleged that ECMO manufacturers had wired hundreds of thousands of New Taiwan dollars into the SICU account as donations.
The investigation is still in the initial phase and Liu, who is in charge of the SICU account, was questioned as a witness, not a defendant, the prosecutors’ office said.
After questioning, Lin, her face covered by a hat and a surgical mask, did not answer questions from the media and left quickly in a cab.
At a separate setting, Ko’s campaign executive director, Yao Li-ming (姚立明), reiterated that all bank accounts related to Ko are “clean.”
He said that Ko has nothing to hide and welcomes investigation by the judiciary.
“I really hope that details of the more than 400 accounts related to the NTUH can all be publicized, so that the public can see how clean Ko’s MG149 account is,” Yao said. “Ko has nothing to hide, because the management of the MG149 account follows strict regulations.”
“We also hope that the judiciary can quickly finish investigating the allegations,” he added.
Yao also rebutted a report by the Chinese-language Next Magazine last week, which said that Tsai met with the campaign team to discuss how to answer questions from reporters and prosecutors if they are asked about the accounts.
“They had a discussion, but there was no collusion [as the magazine alleged],” Yao said. “Tsai actually said that [anyone questioned by the media or prosecutor] should just tell the truth, but the report did not include that part.”
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to