Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) yesterday said the City’s Department of Government Ethics is looking into two land development cases approved under former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) administration, as city councilors have raised speculation about Ko allegedly allowing some companies to profit.
The Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday reported that the Ko administration had allowed the floor area ratio of Core Pacific City Co (京華城), a shopping mall in Songshan District (松山), to increase from 392 percent to 840 percent.
Core Pacific Group (威京集團) was suspected of profiting from the increased floor area ration, it said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
It also reported that the Ko administration in 2021 had allowed Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) to win the bid for a 50-year surface rights to plot T17 and T18 in the Beitou Shilin Science Park (北投士林科技園區) without needing an investment plan.
As the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), of which Ko is founder and chairperson, allowed former Shin Kong Life Insurance Co vice president Cynthia Wu (吳欣盈), who is the granddaughter of Shin Kong Group founder Wu Ho-su (吳火獅), to fill a legislative seat vacancy the following year, the Ko administration was suspected of aiding the company, it said.
Democratic Progressive Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) city councilors have been gathering signatures to propose the establishment of a special investigation team to look into the cases, and they plan to propose it on Wednesday, the report said.
Chiang said the Department of Government Ethics has already begun investigating the two cases, and the city government would “do whatever is necessary” if problems are uncovered.
“We will not treat them wrongly, if they are innocent, nor let them off easily if they are not,” he said.
Meanwhile, the TPP Taipei City Council caucus yesterday issued a news release saying the party holds a rational, scientific and practical attitude in facing and solving problems, so it supports the city council forming an investigation team to transparently look into the cases.
It said the city government should publicize all related meeting minutes and have specialists and academics review them, along with another case involving Taiwan Intelligent Fiber Optic Network Consortium (TAIFO, 台灣智慧光網).
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS