Control Yuan member Chen Chin-jun (陳景峻) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) of political manipulation following a media report of Ko alleging that Chen was involved in a city construction project scandal.
A Chinese-language China Times article yesterday said that Ko in January reported Chen to the Taipei Department of Government Ethics and the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption after Chen was allegedly found to have signed off on a luxury apartment building integrated with the MRT Xinyi Anhe Station while he was Taipei deputy mayor.
The report, quoting a Taipei city councilor that requested anonymity, said that the move was Ko’s attempt to embarrass President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the DPP chairperson.
Photo: Chen Yun, Taipei Times
Original plans for the building drafted under former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) required that an access road be built around the perimeter, but Chen allegedly signed off on plans that did not include the road.
Responding to criticism from Chen that he had resorted to political manipulation, Ko said that the case was brought to his attention by DPP Taipei City Councilor Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) in November last year.
“The DPP’s internal strife has nothing to do with me,” Ko said.
The DPP has no internal strife, Chien told reporters, adding that she has requested that the case be investigated, although she did not specify a person of interest.
Chien said that Taipei Deputy Mayor Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) told her in January that a comprehensive investigation would be done — and not one that only targeted Chen.
“If there were concerns about Chen before, why did Ko not object to the DPP nominating him as a Control Yuan member earlier this year,” she asked.
Ko seems to be diverting attention from his party’s loss in the Kaohsiung mayoral by-election, as well as the resignation of Taipei Livestock Products Marketing Corp general manager Yao Liang-yi (姚量議) on Tuesday, she added.
Ko knew that the contractor was moving ahead with the project without building the access road as early as 2017, when concerns were raised by the area’s borough warden, she said, asking why he had not acted on his concerns at that time.
Ko seems to have avoided dealing with the issue because it involves a subsidiary of Radium Life Tech Co that had a joint development project with the city, she said.
A source familiar with the case said that an investigation conducted by the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and sent to the Agency Against Corruption for further investigation did not implicate Chen.
The agency did not respond to a request for comment.
Additional reporting by Wu Cheng-feng
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