TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former Taipei Department of Urban Development Commissioner Huang Ching-mao (黃景茂) alleged Thursday that his interrogation record in the Core Pacific City graft case contained inaccuracies and may have been altered by prosecutors.
During the trial, Huang said he never stated that forwarding Core Pacific City’s petition to the Taipei Urban Planning Commission was illegal, per Liberty Times. He also denied using a phrase typically associated with quoting a superior in connection with forwarding the petition.
On the first point, Huang emphasized that sending the petition to the commission was not illegal. He added that while a commission review is not legally binding, an adverse outcome could pressure Core Pacific City to abandon a request for a more favorable floor-area ratio. On the second point, he said he only noted that the mayor’s office had received the petition and intended to forward it to the commission.
Huang claimed the prosecution rushed his interrogation, leaving limited time for review and contributing to misstatements in the written record. He alleged prosecutors inserted the disputed phrasing after the fact.
He also questioned why his status changed from witness to co-defendant. Cheng Shen-yuan (鄭深元), attorney for former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), asked whether the change resulted from Huang’s refusal to implicate Ko. The prosecution objected, and the judge sustained the objection.
Citing the same record, prosecutors argued that Huang’s earlier statements contradicted Ko’s claim of having no knowledge of the petition, per Tai Sounds. Huang replied that the final written record misrepresented what he intended to say.
Cheng asked the court to verify whether Huang’s written record matches the audio and video. Prosecutor Liao Yen-chun (廖彥鈞) countered that any clarification could be addressed by direct questioning.
The court denied Cheng’s request, saying the defense had already been given sufficient time to verify the record’s accuracy. Cheng later argued the defense could not have foreseen the extent of discrepancies and did not have the same resources as the prosecution to review all evidence.
After the session, the prosecution characterized Huang’s testimony as overly reserved and criticized both the Department of Urban Development and the Taipei Urban Planning Commission for allegedly shirking responsibility in the petition review process, per Liberty Times.
Following the hearing, Ko accused prosecutors of deliberately altering interrogation records, per CNA. He said Huang, a veteran in urban planning, would not knowingly violate the law as suggested by the prosecution.
