Investigators today questioned more than 10 people, including former Taipei City Government employees who worked on Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) presidential campaign, over a case involving improper campaign finance reporting.
Taipei prosecutors instructed the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau’s Taipei division to question TPP Secretary-General Vincent Chou (周榆修), spokesperson Tai Yu-wen (戴于文) and several others in the illegal campaign finance reporting case.
They are to decide later today whether to send the witnesses to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for further questioning.
Photo: Liu Ching-hou, Taipei Times
The case involves irregular payments made to the marketing firm Muko (木可行銷公關) and other firms associated with the TPP, and mistakes in campaign finance reports for Ko’s presidential campaign earlier this year.
Investigators in August searched the company offices and questioned seven people in the case, releasing four on bail.
The Prestige Care Foundation, which is run by former Ko campaign finance manager Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗), has also been accused of improperly reporting its finances for last year.
Investigators are now trying to determine whether there is any connection between the foundation’s irregular reporting and the campaign finance case.
The foundation said today that it would publish its records from last year for public scrutiny.
The Taipei Department of Social Welfare said it had already received the records it requested from the foundation and would forward them to investigators.
Lee, who is already in custody during ongoing investigations in a separate case, was questioned on Friday last week by the bureau.
The people questioned today worked for Ko’s campaign after leaving the Taipei City Government, with some reportedly being paid through the foundation.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
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