The Taipei District Court this morning rejected a request from prosecutors to extend the incommunicado detention of Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) after Ko was indicted on charges of bribery and other forms of corruption yesterday, with prosecutors seeking a total sentence of 28.5 years for the former Taipei mayor.
According to today's ruling, Ko would be released on bail of NT$30 million (US$917,431) and be barred from changing his residence and going abroad.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office said it would appeal the ruling.
Photo: Taipei Times file photo
Ko has been held incommunicado since Sept. 5. His detention was extended in October over allegations of bribery and corruption linked to real estate dealings during his second term as Taipei mayor from 2018 to 2022.
He was also charged with embezzling political donations made to the TPP during the presidential election this January.
The court also rejected prosecutors' requests to detain other defendants in the case, including former Taipei Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲), Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇), Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗), finance chief of Ko's 2024 election campaign office; and Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), founder and chairman of the real estate conglomerate Core Pacific Group.
Photo: Yang Kuo-wen, Taipei Times
Pong can be released on bail of NT$5 million and Ying on bail of NT$15 million. Lee can be released on bail of NT$10 million and Sheen on bail of NT$40 million, the court said.
According to the court, they would also be prohibited from changing residence and leaving the country.
While prosecutors said Hsu Chih-yu (許芷瑜), another defendant, who served as a close aide to Ko, had fled overseas, they failed to established clear evidence to show she was involved in the case.
Prosecutors noted that as related witnesses have been summoned for questioning, the risk of the investigations being undermined was low.
The TTP yesterday condemned Ko's indictment, accusing the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of political persecution and attempting to silence the 3.69 million Taiwanese who voted for Ko in January’s presidential election.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
RSS