Prosecutors request Core Pacific suspects’ detention

PIVOTAL ROLES:
One suspect allegedly played a part in Ko Wen-je’s unreported presidential bid donations, while the other allegedly handled redevelopment bribery funds

• By Yang Kuo-wen and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office and the Agency Against Corruption taskforce yesterday morning requested the Taipei District Court to detain chief financial officer of the Taiwan People’s Party’s presidential campaign Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) and former Dingyue Development Corp (鼎越開發) president Chu Yea-hu (朱亞虎) for alleged involvement in the Core Pacific City case.

The court held a detention hearing at 6:50pm yesterday, which was ongoing at press time last night.

Prosecutors said they filed a request to detain the two suspects after questioning them on Friday, as they were suspected to be heavily involved in the case and allegedly violated the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).

The two were among 10 defendants accused of corruption, allegedly giving preferential treatment to Core Pacific City Co during the tenure of then-Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and raising the floor area ratio (FAR) of the redevelopment project in 2020 to boost the value of the property.

Lee was Ko’s high-school classmate, served as his campaign office’s financial manager and was the director-general of the Taipei mayor’s office in 2015, the taskforce said.

The taskforce said it suspected Lee was in the know and might have played a pivotal role in the scandal regarding Ko’s unreported political donations from his presidential bid earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, Chu is suspected of being an intermediary between Core Pacific and the Taipei City Government, and allegedly handled the funds used for bribery.

Other defendants include Core Pacific supervisor Chang Chih-cheng (張志澄) and Core Pacific Group legal affairs manager Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源), who have been allowed to post bail for NT$2.5 million (US$78,894) and NT$1.5 million respectively. Former news anchor Tung Chung-pai (童中白), former Core Pacific Rental manager Hung Hsiu-feng (洪秀鳳) and supervisor Fan Ya-chi (范雅琪) have been released without bail.

Witnesses included Ko’s former bodyguard Chen Wen-chung (陳文鐘), Ko’s former itinerary secretary Huang Hsin-hsiang (黃心緗), former secretary Huang Chieh-ying (黃婕穎) and Lin Ting-feng (林鼎峰). They have been released without bail.