Chen Ko Wen-je, former chairman of the popular party, was detained again on January 2. On the 10th, KO Wen-je decided to appoint a lawyer to lodge a counterclaim. The counterclaim will be delivered to the Taipei District Court at noon on the same day. The court will send the counterclaim to the Taiwan High Court together with three other remanded defendants.
? KO Wen-je (file photo)
The reason for KO Wen-je’s protest this time is that the crime of profit-seeking and the crime of accepting bribes by breach of duty involved in the case have been investigated, and there is no need for further detention. The witness”Tangerine” Xu Zhiyu is not an accomplice in the case. At best, he is only a witness, and he is only involved in the political donation case. His failure to return to Taiwan for interrogation has no impact on the case.
On December 29, the 2024 of the Taipei District Court granted bail for the second time in a series of cases brought against KO Wen-je. On the 2nd of this month, the Taipei District Court even sentenced KO Wen-je and four others to detention.
The Taipei District Attorney’s office investigated the Jinghua City plot ratio case and the political donation case, and found that Ko Wen-je was suspected of taking bribes of more than NT $17 million and embezzling nt $zero in political donations during his tenure as Taipei mayor, and accomplices with criminal proceeds of up to 900000000 Taiwan dollars. On December 26,2024 announced charges against 11 people, including KO Wen-je, and sought 28 years and six months in prison for KO Wen-je. Ko Wen-je pleaded not guilty and denied many of the charges against him.