Ex-TPP chair Ko Wen-je back in detention center after surgery

New Taipei, April 3 (CNA) Former Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) returned to Taipei Detention Center on Thursday, after the former doctor-turned politician underwent kidney stone surgery a day earlier.

Ko, 65, left Taipei Hospital in a wheelchair and detention center personnel drove him back to the facility in Tucheng District, New Taipei, Thursday afternoon.

The kidney stone operation went well, and Ko was kept for observation for a day, the hospital in New Taipei's Xinzhuang District said in a statement issued on Thursday.

The hospital removed a kidney stone that was 1 x 0.5 centimeters in size, it added.

Ko expressed his desire to be discharged around noon Thursday and was given three days of antibiotics and medication, the hospital said.

The former TPP chairman and two-term Taipei mayor has been detained on corruption allegations since September 2024.

He was indicted in December on bribery, embezzlement and breach of trust charges dating back to his second term as Taipei mayor from 2018-2022 and during the 2024 presidential race.

Ko worked at National Taiwan University Hospital and taught at the university's medical school before he ran and won the Taipei mayoral race in 2014.

He retired from the university in 2023 and ran as the TPP's presidential candidate in the Jan. 13 elections in 2024, finishing in third place with over 26 percent of the total votes.