The Taipei District Court yesterday approved the seizure of NT$38.83 million (US$1.19 million) from Muko Public Relations (木可行銷公關), a company associated with the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), for alleged falsified accounting and unlawful transfer of funds for personal profiteering.
Taipei prosecutors also summoned former TPP chief financial officer Liang Hsiu-chu (梁秀菊) for questioning yesterday.
She was released afterward.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was summoned on Tuesday for two questioning sessions, first in the morning by Taipei prosecutors, then in the afternoon by the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB), which was investigating the party’s political donations and campaign funds money flow.
Taipei prosecutors in a release said they had filed an application to the Taipei District Court to seize Muko’s assets.
Prosecutors said they had uncovered numerous financial items that were supposed to be political donation campaign finances for Ko and the TPP, but were transferred to Muko accounts for alleged unlawful use by Ko and his family.
Set up in late 2022, Muko was located next to the TPP’s office in Taipei, and was managed by Ko’s long-time friend, Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗), and his sister, Lee Wen-chuan (李文娟).
The company handled donations for Ko’s presidential campaign, and earned revenue from Ko’s appearances, “concert events,” and sale of merchandise bearing the “kp” logo.
Muko is one of three private entities set up by Ko and his inner circle for receiving political contributions, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Yu Shu-hui (游淑慧) said.
TPP officials in a statement yesterday denied that Ko had misappropriated party funds.
After errors and missing account records were uncovered earlier this year, Ko instructed party members to double-check accounting reports and clarify the party’s finances to the public during a news conference in August, it said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about