Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) has applied to lift a restriction on written communication while in detention, while Taipei city councilors accused the former mayor of holding “secret meetings” with business figures to raise fund the party.
The Taipei District Court brought in Ko for further questioning on Thursday afternoon, after he applied through his lawyer to lift a restriction on written communication, saying he wanted to pass some documents to his family.
Ko has been held incommunicado since early September while prosecutors investigate allegations of falsified accounting and unlawful transfer of campaign funds in association with the TPP.
Photo: Taipei Times
Meanwhile, TPP founding member Chu Hui-jung (朱蕙蓉) and business tycoon Sun Cheng-chiang (孫正強) confirmed that they had registered Zhong Cheng Management Co (眾城管理) in 2020.
The company is at the center of allegations from Taipei city councilors Yu Shu-hui (游淑慧) and Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) about the so-called "Tuntian Project" (屯田計劃).
They claimed that Ko held secret meetings with business tycoons and close aides to generate revenue for the TPP, and directed the establishment for Taoyuan-based Zhong Cheng to aid with the project.
Yu, a KMT member, said that the "Tuntian Project" aimed to raise NT$2 billion (US$61.27 million) by 2028, in time for another presidential run by Ko.
When it was formed, the company listed Chu as a board member with the most shares, Yu said.
The company was led by Norman Sun (孫正強), chairman of Toplus Global Group and Vision Living Co, which manage luxury restaurants, hotels and food catering businesses.
Yu cited anonymous sources as saying that Ko had planned for Zhong Cheng to become a parent holding company in charge of other companies through owning shares, without directly engaging in business.
Yu said the plan was to attract more business figures to invest in return for “quid pro quo” financial benefit from TPP figures.
Chu said she knew about the establishment of Zhong Cheng and was asked to serve on the board, but claimed not to hold any shares or be involved in its operations.
Sun also said he served as Zhong Cheng’s chairman, but had no subsequent business activities with the firm which now lays dormant.
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
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