Ko Wen-je aide who fled abroad declared wanted by Justice Ministry

Taipei, April 11 (CNA) A close aide of former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who is a person of interest in Ko's corruption case, has been declared wanted by the Ministry of Justice's Investigation Bureau, which believes she may be hiding in Japan or Australia.

The aide, Hsu Chih-yu (許芷瑜), was recently added to the bureau's Fugitive Online Query System, which showed that she fled overseas on Aug. 29, 2024 and that her possible hideout is in Japan or Australia.

The system indicated that the Taipei District Prosecutors Office issued an arrest warrant on Oct. 24, 2024 for the 38-year-old Hsu, nicknamed "Orange," suspecting that she violated the Anti-Corruption Act and other laws in connection with Ko's case.

Taipei prosecutors indicted the 65-year-old Ko, who is also the founder and former chairman of the opposition Taiwan People's Party (TPP), on Dec. 26 on corruption charges, including taking bribes, related to real estate issues during his second term as Taipei mayor from 2018 to 2022.

Ko, the TPP's presidential candidate in the 2024 election, was also charged with embezzling political donations to the TPP during the election. Prosecutors requested a total sentence of 28 years and six months.

According to prosecutors, Ko allegedly entrusted bribes he took to Hsu after receiving them.

After returning to Taiwan from an overseas trip on Aug. 27 last year, Hsu, acting under Ko's instructions, quickly booked a flight at 4:10 a.m. on Aug. 29, and departed for Japan that same day, prosecutors have said.

Taipei prosecutors said that after failing to secure Hsu's return through her friends, they issued a warrant for her arrest based on the law because she "ignored a legal summons without valid reason and could not be located for arrest."

The Bureau of Consular Affairs under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been also asked to cancel Hsu's passport, and a request for extradition has been made through judicial cooperation channels, prosecutors said.

The Investigation Bureau emphasized that efforts to track Hsu's whereabouts are ongoing, saying that legal attachés posted abroad will seek judicial assistance from countries Hsu may have traveled through.