Ko Wen-je released on NT$70 million bail (update)

Taipei, Sept. 8 (CNA) Former Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released by the Taipei District Court after posting NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail Monday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he faces trial for corruption.

Under the terms of release granted last Friday, Ko must stay at a registered address, wear a device equipped with a GPS tracking system, and not leave the country.

He is also barred from contacting other defendants or witnesses in the trial.

After Ko's wife, Chen Pei-chi (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20 p.m., where he was fitted with an ankle monitor.

At around 2:30 p.m., Ko, accompanied by Chen, TPP Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) and internet personality Holger Chen (陳之漢), stepped out of the courthouse to address a crowd of reporters and some 700 of his supporters.

Ko began by thanking his supporters for standing by him over the past year, claiming that Taipei prosecutors had found "nothing" incriminating despite comprehensive searches targeting him, his family, assistants and the TPP.

"The Democratic Progressive Party could not have dreamed that the TPP would be so clean," Ko said, referring to Taiwan's ruling party, which he has argued is persecuting him for political reasons.

Ko said his year in incommunicado detention had been a period of "suffering," in which he never saw sunlight and had little contact with other people.

During that time, he said, he had reflected on his 30-year career as a surgeon and eight years as Taipei mayor, about how he had occasionally been too unyielding and impatient, and how he could have done better.

The experience of being in prison also showed him a "different side of Taiwanese society," by giving him a chance to live alongside people with truly difficult lives for the first time, including several cellmates who did not have a single dollar to their names, Ko said.

"I hope Taiwan can be made better because of us, not torn apart by division, as it has been under [President] Lai Ching-te (賴清德)," Ko said, calling that the case against him a "miscarriage of justice."

As he left to board a vehicle, Ko shouted to his supporters that he would "keep working" and "not surrender."

According to Chen Pei-chi, Ko is planning to travel to Hsinchu to see his mother and decide where to inter the ashes of his father, who died while he was in custody.

Ko was detained on Sept. 5, 2024, and indicted in December on four charges, including accepting NT$17.1 million in bribes for a property redevelopment case while serving as Taipei mayor, and embezzling political donations during his 2024 presidential campaign.

Prosecutors are seeking a total sentence of 28.5 years for Ko, who has maintained his innocence throughout the investigation and his ongoing trial.

Ten other suspects were also indicted in the two anti-corruption probes, including former Taipei Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲); Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇); Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗), finance chief of Ko's 2024 election campaign office; and Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), founder and chairman of the real estate conglomerate Core Pacific Group.

Ying was released on NT$30 million bail last Friday.