Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released without bail early yesterday, while his deputy during his tenure as Taipei mayor was detained and held incommunicado after being questioned since Friday over graft allegations related to a shopping center redevelopment project.
Prosecutors on Saturday filed a request with the Taipei District Court to officially detain Ko and former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) over allegations surrounding the redevelopment of Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心).
The court yesterday determined that the evidence provided by prosecutors was insufficient to justify the detention of Ko and ordered his release without bail. However, it granted their request to detain Pong after concluding that he was a major suspect in the case and could potentially collude with conspirators.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said it would appeal the decision.
The court said the issues at hand were the legality of the resolution passed by Taipei Urban Planning Commission on Sept. 9, 2021. It resulted in the project’s floor area ratio (FAR) being increased by 20 percent, from 560 percent to 672 percent, as well as the resolution’s subsequent approval on Nov. 1 that same year and the construction permit issued by the Taipei Urban Development Department.
The Control Yuan has stated that increasing the FAR of the project was illegal, as it did not conform to the Urban Planning Act (都市計畫法) or the principle of fair consideration, nor was it in the public’s interest, the court said.
The key to determining Ko’s innocence or guilt lies in whether he was aware that the resolution was illegal, and that it aimed to seek unlawful gains, the court said.
As Ko did not participate in the committee or the resolution meeting, and he does not possess relevant expertise in the matter, his claim that he trusted the resolution by experts and Pong’s professional opinion was not unfounded, it added.
On the other hand, while Pong, who managed the project, claimed his decisions were lawful, he often set preconditions, transgressed procedural regulations or ignored opposing opinions while chairing Urban Planning Commission meetings, the court said.
It added that Pong played a significant role in the case and appeared to have many interests in common with alleged accomplices.
The court’s decision yesterday marks a significant moment in the anti-corruption investigation that was launched in May, but escalated into a flurry of activity over the past five days.
On Wednesday last week, investigators from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and the Agency Against Corruption (AAC) searched 48 locations and questioned six suspects, including Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇) and Core Pacific Group chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), who have been detained and held incommunicado since late Thursday night and early Friday respectively.
On Friday, prosecutors raided Ko’s home and office, and Pong’s residence, as well as the TPP’s headquarters. Ko was summoned by the AAC and questioned for about 12 hours before being sent to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office early on Saturday for further questioning. Pong was also summoned for questioning that day.
Ko was arrested later on Saturday after he tried to leave the prosecutors’ office. His lawyer filed a petition against the arrest, saying his client was too tired to continue being questioned. However, investigators told the court that the investigation would be hindered if Ko was allowed to go home instead of resting at the prosecutors’ premises.
The Taipei District Court ruled that Ko’s arrest was legal according to the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Prosecutors alleged that Ko was involved in corrupt real-estate dealings during his second term as Taipei mayor from 2018 to 2022.
They believe Ying acted as a go-between between Sheen and top city officials, including Pong, who was prohibited by prosecutors earlier this month from leaving the country or changing his residence.
Sheen allegedly gave Ying more than NT$47.4 million (US$1.48 million) as part of his company’s efforts to illegally lobby the Taipei City Government to increase the FAR of Core Pacific City.
After being released yesterday morning, Ko was greeted by a cheering crowd, his wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), and TPP caucus whip Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) outside the district prosecutors’ office.
He thanked his supporters and said he could not understand why the authorities raided his residence and office and the TPP’s headquarters.
He restated that he knew nothing about the FAR increase, as it was not his place to stick his nose into every case as mayor.
He added that he only knew about the project’s FAR being increased to a maximum of 840 percent in March or April this year because of media coverage of the issue.
Several Taipei city councilors accused Ko of lying.
Citing video footage of the city council’s question-and-answer session on Nov. 11, 2021, DPP Taipei City Councilor Ho Meng-hua (何孟樺) said that Taipei City Councilor Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) of the Social Democratic Party asked then-mayor Ko why his government had granted the project such a high FAR and warned that it could turn into a scandal.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) said that Ko had personally signed several documents related to the case, and was just “playing dumb.”
Additional reporting by Lee I-chia
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