news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

[text/observer network chen sijia] on august 31, the taipei district prosecutor's office applied to the taipei district court to detain taiwan people's party chairman ko wen-je and deny him access to visitors on suspicion of corruption and bribery. according to taiwan media such as "china times news" and "tvbs news", ko wen-je was sent to the taipei district court's underground waiting room to spend the night, and the court is expected to open the trial on the evening of september 1.

because the prosecutor applied for partial restrictions on the review of the case files, the taipei district court held a review session at 8:30 a.m. on the 1st, with the prosecutor explaining the reasons for the restrictions and the judge confirming the scope of the review. the defense lawyers reviewed the case files at 10:30 a.m. and then exchanged views with ko wen-je and another defendant, former taipei deputy mayor peng zhensheng.

it is expected that the taipei district court will hold a detention hearing at 8 p.m. on the 1st to decide whether to detain ko wen-je and peng zhen-sheng without permission.

in the early morning of august 31, ke wenzhe was transferred to the taipei district prosecutor's office for interrogation. china times news network

tvbs news network said that the detention court would not open until the evening of august 1, so ko wen-je could only spend the night in the basement waiting room of the taipei district court on august 31. the waiting room is about 3 to 5 pings (1 ping is about 3.3 square meters), with disposable toiletries and a squat toilet that "cannot flush itself". the room is laid with wooden floors and equipped with folding beds, and each room is equipped with surveillance cameras.

the report mentioned that former taiwan legislator chiu yi described the waiting room as "smelly and gloomy" in 2016, and the taipei district court renovated the waiting room in 2017. a lawyer also revealed to taiwanese media that even if the waiting room is clean, it is still regarded as a "dungeon" and no one is willing to spend the night there.

screenshot of the video of the underground waiting room of taipei district court disclosed by taiwanese media

according to taiwan’s central news agency, the plot ratio of taipei jinghua city surged to 840% during ko wen-je’s tenure, and the outside world questioned ko wen-je’s “protection of the industry.” the taipei district prosecutors office opened a separate investigation in may this year, naming ko wen-je and others as defendants, and asked the “integrity agency” to conduct a search and interview former taipei deputy mayor peng zhensheng, taipei city government officials and other personnel.

at 7 a.m. on august 30, the taipei district prosecutors office and the "integrity commission" launched an operation to search ko wen-je's residence. ko wen-je was interrogated by the "integrity commission" at noon that day. after a 12-hour "marathon" interrogation, ko wen-je was transferred to the taipei district prosecutors office for re-interrogation in the early morning of the 31st. however, because ko wen-je refused the night interrogation and tried to leave, he was arrested by the prosecutor in court.

ko wen-je then applied to the court for a retrial to examine whether the process of his arrest was legal. however, the taipei district court held a retrial on the morning of august 31 and ruled to reject ko wen-je's retrial application. ko wen-je was sent back to the taipei district prosecutors office for further interrogation.

the taipei district prosecutors' office believes that ko wen-je and peng zhen-sheng are suspected of corruption, bribery and other crimes, and are suspected of colluding with accomplices and witnesses. therefore, they applied to the taipei district court to detain the two and deny them access to visitors.

"china times news network" estimated that since ko wen-je was searched and went to the "independence agency" for interrogation, he was arrested in court, applied for retrial, and the prosecutor applied for detention and no-contact, until the court held a detention hearing at 8 o'clock tonight. ko wen-je spent about 44 hours in only three locations: the "independence agency", the taipei district prosecutors' office, and the taipei district court waiting room.

in addition to the jinghuacheng case, ko wen-je was also caught up in a political donation scandal and was exposed for using election subsidies to buy an office. on august 29, ko wen-je held a press conference to bow and apologize, and announced that he would take a three-month leave from the people's party to await the party's internal investigation.

taiwan media "united news network" published an article saying that in the past month, ko wen-je's political donations, election subsidies and other financial flows have been systematically exposed and guided on the internet, almost convicting ko wen-je of public opinion. ko wen-je and the people's party were unable to explain themselves in the face of doubts, which only made the storm continue to expand. the taiwan judicial department's search and interview for investigation of the jinghuacheng scandal was a heavy blow, causing ko wen-je and the people's party to be defeated, while the democratic progressive party "reaped the benefits".

the article said that after lai qingde took office, he was tough in the face of the majority public opinion in the opposition. the "blue-white cooperation" between the kuomintang and the people's party to supervise the dpp is the only force that can check and balance the dpp. now the people's party is in chaos and the opposition forces are torn apart. subsequent developments will affect the future political situation in taiwan. lai qingde must be careful to restrain his power and let the judiciary conduct fair and just trials. if he sharpens his knife and uses the judiciary to fight the opposition party, he will be hit by a storm.