Prosecutors demand arrest of Core Pacific suspects

KEY ROLES:
One suspect allegedly participated in Ko Wen-je’s unreported donations to his presidential bid, while the other allegedly handled bribery redevelopment funds

• Authors: Yang Kuo-wen and Jake Chung / staff reporter with staff writer

The Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office and the Anti-Corruption Agency’s task force yesterday morning asked the Taipei District Court to detain Taiwan People’s Party presidential campaign finance director Lee Wen-tsung (李文宗) and former Dingyue Development Corp (鼎越開發) president Chu Yea -hu (朱亞虎) for his alleged involvement in the Core Pacific City case.

Yesterday at 6:50 p.m. the court held a pre-trial detention hearing, which was pending in the evening for the press.

Prosecutors said that after questioning them on Friday, they filed a request to detain both suspects because they were suspected of being heavily involved in the case and allegedly violating the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例).

The two were among 10 accused of corruption, allegedly giving preferential treatment to Core Pacific City Co during the term of then-Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and raising the floor area ratio (FAR) of a 2020 redevelopment project to increase property values.

Lee was a high school classmate of Ko’s, served as finance manager in his campaign office and was director general of the Taipei mayor’s office in 2015, the task force said.

The task force said it suspected Lee knew about it and may have played a key role in the scandal involving Ko’s unreported political donations as part of 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 funds used for bribery.

The other defendants were Core Pacific supervisor Chang Chih-cheng (張志澄) and Core Pacific Group legal affairs manager Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源), who were allowed to post bail of NT$2.5 million (US$78,894) and 1, respectively. NT$5 million. 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) were released without bail.

The witnesses were 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 were released without bail.