Taipei City
\nTaiwan prosecutors on Thursday indicted an ex-mayor of Taipei and former presidential candidate on charges of corruption and misusing political donations and said they were seeking 28 years\u2019 jail for him.
\nKo Wen-je, leader of the Taiwan People\u2019s Party (TPP), ran as a third-party candidate in January\u2019s presidential election and won about a quarter of the vote.
\nBut he has been embroiled in a number of scandals in recent months, including a corruption case involving a property development that allegedly occurred during his second term as Taipei\u2019s mayor from 2018 to 2022.
\nKo was indicted Thursday in the property case as well as on misusing donations for the TPP and a charity foundation, and breach of trust, the Taipei district prosecutors\u2019 office said.
\nProsecutors said they were seeking a combined jail term of 28 years and six months for Ko, who has been detained since September during an investigation.
\nThe property scandal concerns Core Pacific City, a redevelopment project that saw its floor area ratio substantially increased \u2014 done with the city government\u2019s approval which allegedly benefited developer Sheen Ching-jing.
\n\u201cKo personally received NT$15 million as bribe money\u201d given by Sheen in 2022 and pocketed another NT$2.1 million from his company, deputy chief prosecutor Kao I-shu told reporters.
\nSheen had allegedly obtained illegal benefits of more than NT$20 billion in the Core Pacific City project, a court previously said when ordering Ko\u2019s detention.
\n\u201cKo was found with torn-up notes in his office during the investigation, with instructions for accomplices to flee the country,\u201d Kao said.
\n\u201cHis post-offence attitude was also deemed poor.\u201d
\nProsecutors also charged Ko with embezzling and co-embezzling more than NT$60 million of political donations made to his party in two cases and misusing around NT$8.27 million in donations for a social welfare foundation for his presidential campaign.
\nKo has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing in the property case.
\nBut he has apologised to his followers after allegations of misreporting of his campaign funds used during his presidential run surfaced.
\nHuang Kuo-chang, a senior TPP official and head of the party\u2019s legislative caucus, lashed out at the indictment, which he described as \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d and \u201ca political vendetta\u201d.
\n\u201cThe indictment relied on vague wording, accusing Ko of bribery without presenting concrete evidence,\u201d he told reporters.
\nHuang also insisted \u201cnot a single dollar from the political donations account went into Ko Wen-je\u2019s pocket\u201d.
\nKo has taken personal leave from the party\u2019s leadership role since September and tendered his resignation as chairman in a letter sent from prison earlier this month.
\nAsked about the letter at a news conference on Thursday, the TPP said would not elect a new chairman.
\nDuring January\u2019s election, the TPP won eight seats in Taiwan\u2019s fractious parliament, securing it kingmaker status in the legislature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Taipei City Taiwan prosecutors on Thursday indicted an ex-mayor of Taipei and former presidential candidate on charges of corruption and misusing political donations and said they were seeking 28 years\u2019 jail for him. Ko Wen-je, leader of the Taiwan People\u2019s Party (TPP), ran as a third-party candidate in January\u2019s presidential election and won about a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-451885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n