High Court rejects ex-Taipei Mayor Ko's appeal against detention

Taipei, Aug. 11 (CNA) Former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇) will spend another two months in custody as their corruption case proceeds after the Taiwan High Court on Monday rejected their appeal to end their detention.

The High Court upheld a Taipei District Court ruling made on July 21 to keep Ko and Ying, the two remaining defendants still detained and held incommunicado in the Core Pacific City redevelopment corruption case, for another two months from Aug. 2.

In a statement, the High Court said its judges dismissed arguments made by Ko and Ying, who said they did not present a flight risk and that their alleged crimes were not felonies. They also questioned the lower court's decision as lacking sufficient legal grounds.

Citing court documents and information provided by the detention center, the High Court judges sided with the lower court, citing Article 101 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to rule against Ko and Ying.

"If the suspicion of the accused committing a crime becomes significant ... and as a result, it will be very difficult to prosecute, or try the case, or execute a sentence without a retention order, the accused shall be detained," the article reads.

The High Court also argued that "due to a natural fear of punishment, it is hard to say there would be no possibility that they might choose to flee to avoid being imprisoned."

It said the defendants have the "personal status and financial capability" to flee.

Ying was first taken into custody by prosecutors on Aug. 27, 2024 following her failed attempt to fly to Hong Kong, while Ko was arrested on Aug. 31 after he refused to answer questions by investigators the day before.

Once the latest extension is served, the two will have been held in detention for more than a year.

Members of the party Ko formed, the Taiwan People's Party, have argued that Ko is a victim of political persecution and that prosecutors have failed to provide clear evidence that the former mayor engaged in wrongdoing.

Ko and Ying were among 11 people indicted by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for their roles in a redevelopment project during Ko's stint as Taipei mayor in which the developer allegedly received favorable conditions from the Taipei City government.

Core Pacific Group Chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), who is accused of paying bribes to Ko and other city officials in the indictment announced on Dec. 26, 2024, was granted bail on July 21 and was released next day.

The prosecutors have alleged that Ying acted as a go-between between Sheen and Taipei City officials to obtain an unusually high floor area ratio to build four 19-floor office buildings on the site of the demolished 12-floor Core Pacific City shopping mall.

A higher floor area would allow Sheen to sell more units.

The Taipei District Court initially ruled that Ko be released rather than detained, but prosecutors challenged the lower court's decision, and the High Court ordered a review of the need to detain the former mayor.

Ko, who represented the TPP in a failed bid for the presidency on Jan. 13, 2024, was taken to the Taipei Detention Center, where Sheen and Ying were also kept, with the first round of legal battles over detention concluded on Sept. 6, 2024.

The legal wrangling over the defendants' detention resurfaced after the district court decided to release Sheen, Ko, Ying and Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗), who headed Ko's office, following the Dec. 26 indictment.

The district court reversed its stance and ordered the detention of the four on Jan. 2, after the High Court rejected the decision to release the four individuals twice.