Detention of TPP Chairman Ko Wen-je extended (update)

Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) The Taipei District Court on Friday agreed to extend the incommunicado detention of Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on suspicion of accepting bribes from real estate developers during his tenure as Taipei mayor.

The court said the ruling extending Ko's detention, which is subject to appeal, came amid fears over possible collusion in falsifying testimony that would undermine the efforts of prosecutors to investigate the case.

According to the ruling, substantial evidence points to Ko's serious involvement in a suspected violation of the Anti-Corruption Act, which carries a minimum penalty of five years.

Furthermore, current evidence suggests that Ko's alleged accomplices are still at large, and further investigation is required to clarify outstanding case details, the court said.

"After weighing the balance between public interest and the defendant's rights, and considering proportionality, it was determined that alternatives such as bail, liability, or residential restrictions are not feasible, making detention necessary," the court said in its ruling.

Ko's lawyers declined to comment when asked by reporters after the ruling whether they would appeal the case.

Prosecutors allege that Ko violated the Anti-Corruption Act by accepting bribes from real estate developers and using his supervisory role to benefit others during his second term as Taipei mayor from 2018 to 2022.

Ko has been detained and held incommunicado since Sept. 5 before prosecutors sought to extend his detention for another two months on Oct. 25.

Under Taiwanese law, prosecutors may apply to a court to detain and hold incommunicado a suspect, under certain conditions, for up to two months at a time -- for a maximum of four months in total -- while they continue an investigation.

A court hearing on the extension was originally scheduled for Thursday but was rescheduled for Friday due to Typhoon Kong-rey.

The prosecutors' success in extending Ko's detention came as no surprise, as the Taipei District Court earlier this week approved prosecutors' requests to extend the detention of other major suspects in the case.

They include Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), chairman of the Core Pacific Group, which is in charge of the controversial Core Pacific City redevelopment project, and Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇).

Prosecutors have accused Sheen of distributing NT$47.40 million (US$1.48 million) in bribes to convince city government officials to increase the floor area ratio (FAR) -- the amount of floor space a developer can build on a given plot of land -- above the allowed limit for a project Sheen was involved in.

Sheen was redeveloping the site formerly occupied by the Core Pacific City shopping mall in Songshan District, and increasing the FAR would mean Sheen could sell more space in the project.

Ying has been believed to have acted as a go-between between Sheen and high-ranking officials, including Ko, and then-Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲), who the court has also ordered detained for the second time.

The TPP, the third largest party in the Legislative Yuan, has argued that the allegations against Ko are a "politically motivated" prosecution by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government.

Ko, running for the TPP, finished third with 26.46 percent of the vote in Taiwan's January 2024 presidential election.

In response to the Friday's ruling, the TPP issued a statement expressing its "fury" over the decision to extend Ko's detention.

The party accused the judiciary of serving the DPP's interests, with President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) disregarding confidentiality in investigations to suppress political opponents.

TPP said it "supports the legal defense team in filing an appeal on behalf of Ko, seeking to restore his rightful personal freedom through legal remedies."