TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Kaohsiung Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) appeared at the Taipei District Prosecutors Office on Wednesday (Sept. 11) for questioning as a witness to the alleged corruption case surrounding former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Ko is being investigated for alleged bribery by the Core Pacific Group to drastically increase the floor area ratio on a development project. The former mayor has been detained incommunicado since Sept. 5.
Investigators called Lin in for questioning Wednesday as he served as one of Ko’s deputy mayors in Taipei during his first term from 2014 to 2018 and as head of the city’s urban planning commission. Lin denied having had anything to do with the Core Pacific City project.
Prosecutors questioned him for more than an hour Wednesday afternoon before allowing him to leave, per the Liberty Times. As he left, he told waiting reporters he respected the judicial process.
A second witness called in by prosecutors was former City Government Deputy Secretary General Lee Te-chuan (李得全) who also left after about two hours without speaking to the media, CNA reported.
Earlier Wednesday, investigators questioned Kuomintang (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Ying Hsiao-wei (應曉薇), who allegedly accepted an estimated NT$47 million (US$1.47 million) from Core Pacific Chair Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) to help pressure the city government into changing the floor area ratio.
Ying, Sheen, and former Taipei Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) have been detained incommunicado as defendants. Appeals against their detention were rejected by the court, while Ko decided not to ask his attorneys to oppose his detention.