Former Taipei mayor facing 28 years' jail for corruption

An ex-mayor of Taipei and former presidential candidate may face 28 years in prison after Taiwan prosecutors indicted him yesterday on charges of corruption and misusing political donations.

Ko Wen-je, leader of the Taiwan People's Party, ran as a third-party candidate in January's presidential election and won about a quarter of the vote.

Ko - embroiled in numerous scandals in recent months, including a case of real estate corruption that allegedly occurred in his second mayoral term from 2018 to 2022 - was indicted on the property case, breach of trust and misusing donations for the TPP and a charity foundation, the Taipei district prosecutors' office said.

Prosecutors said they are seeking a combined jail term of 28 years and six months for Ko, who has been detained since September.

The involved property, redevelopment project Core Pacific City, saw its floor area ratio substantially increased with the city government's approval, allegedly benefiting developer Sheen Ching-jing.

"Ko personally received NT$15 million (HK$3.56 million) as bribe money" from Sheen in 2022 and pocketed another NT$2.1 million from his firm, deputy chief prosecutor Kao I-shu said.

Sheen allegedly obtained illegal benefits worth over NT$20 billion in the Core Pacific City project, a court previously said when ordering Ko's detention.

"Ko was found with torn-up notes in his office during the investigation, with instructions for accomplices to flee the country," Kao said. "His post-offense attitude was also deemed poor."

Prosecutors also charged Ko with two cases of embezzling and co-embezzling over NT$60 million of political donations to his party and misusing some NT$8.27 million in donations to a social welfare foundation for his presidential campaign.

Huang Kuo-chang, a senior TPP official and head of the party's legislative caucus, described the indictment as a politically motivated vendetta.

"The indictment relied on vague wording, accusing Ko of bribery without presenting concrete evidence," Huang said, insisting that "not a single dollar from the political donations account went into [Ko's] pocket."

During January's election, the TPP won eight seats in Taiwan's fractious parliament, securing it kingmaker status in the legislature.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE