Ko faces 2028 presidential race ban after receiving 17-year sentence

Taipei, March 26 (CNA) Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), founder of the opposition Taiwan People's Party, faces disqualification from the 2028 presidential election after he was sentenced to 17 years in prison for bribery charges on Thursday.

The Taipei District Court announced the ruling, including a six-year deprivation of civil rights, against Ko over the "Core Pacific City case" during his second term as Taipei mayor from 2018 to 2022, and three other cases.

Barring a successful appeal, Ko will be unable to take part in the 2028 election. Under Taiwan's Presidential and Vice Presidential Election and Recall Act, individuals who have a corruption conviction, face a sentence of 10 years or more, or have been deprived of their civil rights are ineligible to run for president or vice president.

Ko was sentenced to 13 years in prison and six years of deprivation of civil rights for corruption, two years for one case of misappropriating political donations, three years and six months for another, and two years for breach of public trust, according to the ruling.

The Taipei District Court set a combined sentence of 17 years. The ruling can be appealed.

In the Core Pacific City case, prosecutors accused Ko of receiving NT$15 million (US$470,000) from Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), founder and chairman of Core Pacific Group, and an additional NT$2.1 million through Sheen's proxies to secure favorable treatment, including extra floor area for the project.

The court, however, found Sheen guilty of bribery and Ko accepting bribes only related to the NT$2.1 million received through Sheen's proxies, according to presiding judge Chiang Chun-yen (江俊彥).

Prosecutors' claim that Ko received NT$15 million in bribes was based on statements made by defendants outside of the court that are unfavorable to themselves, and judges cannot rely on such statements alone to determine guilt without supporting evidence, Chiang said.

Chiang added that NT$2.1 million in bribes involved a clear exchange of money for official favors, regardless of the amount.

According to the court's press release, Sheen, acting with the intent to bribe an official to breach their duties, had seven Core Pacific Group employees withdraw company funds and each transfer NT$300,000 to a TPP political donation account controlled by Ko between March 24 and March 26, 2020.

Text message exchanges between former Dingyue Development Corp. President Chu Yea-hu (朱亞虎), one of the seven individuals appointed by Sheen, and Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗), then director of Ko's mayoral office, indicate that Ko was aware of and received the NT$2.1 million, according to the press release.

Ko accepted the funds with intent and facilitated the review of the project, which was then subject to administrative litigation, in breach of his official duties, it noted.

Prosecutors had alleged that Ko personally received NT$15 million in cash from Sheen between Oct. 19 and Nov. 1, 2022, after attending the groundbreaking ceremony for the development project, a transaction which he had recorded in a spreadsheet on his external hard drive.

In December 2024, prosecutors requested a sentence of 28.5 years for Ko, including deprivation of civil rights for 10 years, and 17 years in prison, as well as 11 years deprivation of civil rights for Sheen on bribery and collusion charges.

The court sentenced Sheen to 10 years in prison and five years of deprivation of civil rights.

Meanwhile, Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇) was sentenced to 15 years and six months in prison, along with a six-year deprivation of civil rights, for pressuring city government officials to facilitate approval of the Core Pacific City development project.

The court said Ying received NT$52.5 million from Sheen, constituting offenses of accepting bribes in breach of official duties under the Anti-Corruption Act, as well as money laundering under the Money Laundering Control Act.

According to the court's press release, Sheen made payments totaling NT$6 million to an account controlled by Ying between 2017 and 2019, followed by NT$45 million in 2021 and NT$1.5 million in 2022.