Prosecutors yesterday applied to extend the detention of former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) in an ongoing corruption probe, as the investigation has broadened into alleged accounting fraud and concealing political donations to Ko’s Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).
In a related development, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office issued an international wanted bulletin yesterday for the arrest of Hsu Chih-yu (許芷瑜), Ko’s former secretary, who is in Japan.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that it has taken steps to cancel Hsu’s passport, to prevent her from fleeing to other countries.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Ko and Pong were placed in judicial detention early last month over graft allegations related to a shopping center redevelopment project in Taipei involving the Core Pacific City Group.
Taipei prosecutors have to file a motion for extension before the end of the legally mandated two-month detention period.
Ko is a suspect in a corruption probe for contravening the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例), facing charges under Article 4, for “demanding or taking bribes, or other unlawful profit ... to violate official duties,” and under Article 6, for “seeking unlawful gains for oneself or for others in matters under his charge or supervision while clearly knowing the act violates the law,” the court said.
Although Ko has finished his mayoral office term, he still wields much influence and is a major suspect in the case and could potentially collude with witnesses, and therefore his detention would be extended, the court release said.
Pong faces related corruption charges of a public official possessing assets of unknown origin, attempting to destroy evidence during an investigation, and having given a testimony at odds with statements provided by other defendants, and therefore would have his detention extended to prevent colluding his testimony with other witnesses, the court release said.
When he was mayor, Ko allegedly instructed Pong to take charge of the Taipei City Government’s approval of the Core Pacific City redevelopment project by heading the Taipei Urban Planning Commission, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors suspect Ko and Pong abused their authority by granting undue financial benefits to the Core Pacific Group and its chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), who in return donated tens of millions of NT dollars to the TPP.
Meanwhile, prosecutors on Thursday summoned for questioning Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who said his family had donated NT$2 million (US$62,364) to the TPP, for possible contravention of the Political Donations Act (政治獻金法).
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