Prosecutors yesterday requested the detention of a Taipei City councilor and a businessman in connection to a corruption case embroiling former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Prosecutors requested pretrial detention for Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Core Pacific Group (威京集團) chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) for their suspected involvement in bribery related to real-estate dealings.
Ying was arrested on Tuesday night at Taichung International Airport as she was about to board a flight to Hong Kong.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Several of their associates were released on bail, while a request to detain Ying’s assistant, Wu Shun-min (吳順民), was approved.
Six suspects have been named in the case, and 12 witnesses had been questioned as of Wednesday evening.
In the ongoing investigation by Taipei prosecutors and the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption, evidence reportedly pointed to Sheen making several transfers totaling NT$45 million (US$1.41 million) to Ying, who allegedly conducted five negotiations with the Taipei City Government regarding Sheen’s Living Mall redevelopment project.
The investigation also found Sheen had allegedly set up a special fund of about NT$300 million for “public relations expenses” which the prosecutors suspect served as bribe money for other city councilors and officials.
When questioned on Wednesday, Sheen was quoted as saying that government officials from the administration of former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and Ko had met with him, asking to pay bribes to approve a redevelopment project with increased floor area ratio (FAR), allegedly for Core Pacific Group to add more than NT$40 billion to its financial gains.
Ying allegedly acted as an intermediary between Ko and Sheen, with city government records showing that Ying had arranged for three lunch meetings between the two.
As a city councilor, she also allegedly lobbied for approval of the project and pressured city officials during meetings to grant a higher FAR, raising it to 392 percent and finally to 840 percent, other city councilors said.
KMT Taipei City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (鍾小平) said that Ying had had good relations with Sheen for decades, as their families had known each other.
Ying has served four terms as city councilor, with Sheen being the main financial backer for her campaigns, Chung said.
After preliminary investigations in May, Ko was listed as a suspect in the case for possible contravention of the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).
News reports said that prosecutors would serve summons to Ko for questioning early next week.
Meanwhile, other city councilors from the KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party have alleged over the past few days that Ko had made several personal visits to venues owned by Sheen.
Asked about the allegation, Ko said that he went to a private dinner and an event held by Sheen, but only after the presidential election in January, while denying having other meetings with him.
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
RSS