Ex-Taipei mayor, 3 others questioned over Core Pacific City corruption scandal

Taipei, Aug. 30 (CNA) Former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People's Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and three others were questioned by an anti-corruption agency Friday in connection with alleged corruption in the Core Pacific City shopping center re-development project.

Ko and former Taipei Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲), treated as potential suspects in the case, and Chen Pei-chi (陳佩琪), the TPP chairman's wife, and Pong's wife were questioned by the Agency Against Corruption (AAC).

As of 7:30 p.m., Ko, Pong and Pong's wife were still at the AAC, while Chen had been handed over to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for follow-up questioning.

Working in collaboration with the AAC, Taipei prosecutors carried out raids across seven different locations in the morning, including Ko's home and his party headquarters in Taipei, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office said in a statement.

The AAC was established in 2011 and falls under the Ministry of Justice. According to the agency's website, its goal is to maintain government integrity and it is staffed with prosecutors empowered to investigate and prosecute corruption cases.

The search of the TPP headquarters was only limited to Ko's office, and the party chairman fully cooperated with the investigation, Taipei prosecutors said.

The actions were carried out in accordance with the law, they said, indicating that the non-disclosure of an ongoing investigation will be strictly followed.

Speaking to the media outside of his home Friday noon before he was taken away in a van by investigators, Ko said the authorities have to explain clearly what evidence they had and what they were thinking to take such action.

Ko stressed he was being very candid and that "I know I have no problem."

In a separate statement Friday, the TPP said it did not know why the search was necessary but pledged to cooperate. The party also urged prosecutors to abide by the law during the investigation.

The TPP expressed hope that the judicial system will handle the case impartially and based on evidence, and called on prosecutors not to reveal details about the investigation while it was ongoing to prevent people from making false assumptions and Ko's reputation from being tarnished.

The party also announced that it has set up an emergency task force that will vie to prove their chairman's innocence.

The investigation into the re-development of Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), started amid suspicions about the significant increase of the floor area ratio (FAR) from 560 percent to 840 percent during Ko's tenure as mayor from 2014 to 2022.

The FAR refers to the ratio of a building's total floor area to the size of the parcel of land upon which it is built.

Ko, Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇), business tycoon Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京), the chairman of the Core Pacific Group,, Ying's assistant Wu Shun-min (吳順民) and several others were named as suspects in the case in May.

Ying, Sheen and Wu were held in detention and incommunicado late Thursday night and early Friday.

Ko and his party have been embroiled in a series of controversies since May. The TPP is also under investigation by the authorities for alleged misreporting of campaign finances from around the time Ko stood as a presidential candidate in Taiwan's election in January.

Earlier this month, an accountant hired by Ko's campaign team and the chairman of a company that sells merchandise bearing Ko's trademark "kp" logo was released on bail for their suspected involvement in the campaign finance scandal that has rocked Taiwan's third-largest political party.. 

Ko also faced criticism after admitting on Monday that he spent NT$43 million of his party's presidential election subsidy to buy an office unit near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei's Zhongzheng District in May this year.