TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) will not make further legal attempts to free himself from jail as prosecutors investigate corruption allegations, Ko’s legal team said on Monday (Sept. 9).

Ko was detained on Thursday (Sept. 9) after the Taipei District Court determined there was sufficient evidence to suspect Ko had knowledge of corruption related to a property development that occurred when he was Taipei mayor. Despite claiming that there had been procedural errors in the prosecutor's application of the law, the statement by Ko’s lawyer on Monday said he would not protest the detention order, per CNA.

The statement, signed by lawyers Cheng Shen-yuan (鄭深元), Lu Cheng-i (陸正義), and Hsiao I-hung (蕭奕弘), said Ko made the decision because he did not want to embarrass prosecutors as they investigated. Ko will cooperate with investigations and hopes prosecutors will conduct thorough inquiries during his time in detention, the statement said.

The statement said that Ko would cooperate within the two months he remains in custody, though Thursday's detention order did not say how long Ko would remain in jail. It is believed that Ko will stay in detention for around two months, though he could remain longer.

Ko was detained on Thursday after the Taipei District Court found there was reason to believe he knew about a scheme to support the Core Pacific City property development in exchange for cash when he was mayor. The Thursday ruling overturned an earlier decision by the same court to free Ko.

Prosecutors say that people in the Taipei City Government including Ko, his deputy mayor, assistants, and Kuomintang members may have had knowledge of or accepted bribes totaling over NT$40 million (US$1.25 million). Prosecutors said the bribes were accepted in exchange for a 450% floor area ratio increase granted to the Core Pacific City development by Taipei City planners in 2020.