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the plot ratio of taipei city's jinghua city increased to 840% during ko wen-je's tenure, sparking controversy. in may this year, former taipei city mayor and people's party chairman ko wen-je was accused of violating the "anti-corruption act" and was suspected of giving away the plot ratio to benefit jinghua city.

according to taiwan's "anti-corruption act", if ko wen-je is guilty of "seeking profit", he will be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than one year and not more than seven years, and a fine of not more than nt$1 million; if ko wen-je is found to have accepted bribes, he will be sentenced to more than ten years, up to life imprisonment, and a fine of not more than nt$100 million for "accepting bribes in violation of his duties."

the taipei district prosecutors office (hereinafter referred to as the taipei prosecutors office) immediately divided the case into a "hetero" case for investigation that month. when handling cases, the taiwan prosecutors are accustomed to dividing the cases into "hetero" cases, "zhen" cases, etc. when the prosecutors determine that the facts of the crime and the perpetrators are clear, it is classified as a "zhen" case; if there is only a suspicion of a crime, but at least one of the facts of the crime and the perpetrators is unclear, it is classified as a "hetero" case. the taipei prosecutors office believes that there is insufficient evidence of ke wenzhe's crime, so he is temporarily listed as the defendant in the "hetero" case.

on august 30, taiwan's anti-corruption unit launched an investigation, officially kicking off the litigation in the jinghuacheng case. at around 7 a.m. that day, the anti-corruption unit went to ko wen-je's residence and office to conduct a search and interview ko wen-je.

in the early morning of the 31st, ko wen-je was transferred to the northern district prosecutors office for interrogation. during the interrogation, ko wen-je said he did not want to be interrogated at night and wanted to leave the investigation court. after the prosecutor told ko wen-je that he could rest first and then accept the interrogation, ko wen-je still refused, so the prosecutor had to arrest ko wen-je in court.

ko wen-je believed that the prosecutors' arrest was wrong and requested a retrial, that is, he requested the taipei district court (hereinafter referred to as the taipei district court) to intervene and determine whether the taipei district court's arrest was "illegal". however, the taipei district court believed that ko wen-je refused the interrogation and tried to leave, and the taipei district court's arrest was "legal", and rejected ko wen-je's request.

on the afternoon of august 31, the taipei district prosecutors office held another investigative hearing on ko wen-je. after nearly three hours of questioning, the prosecutors believed that ko wen-je was suspected of violating the "anti-corruption act" and accepting bribes and seeking benefits in violation of his duties. he was suspected of committing serious crimes and there were concerns about destroying evidence and colluding with others to give false testimony. they applied for detention and no-contact. when the litigation process in taiwan is in progress, in order to prevent the defendant from escaping, destroying evidence, colluding with others to give false testimony, or repeatedly committing crimes, the prosecutors can apply to the court for a compulsory detention and no-contact measure, that is, to detain the defendant in the detention center and prohibit him from meeting with anyone other than a lawyer.

at about 8:00 p.m. on september 1, the taipei district court held a detention hearing. after a long interrogation, in the early morning of september 2, the taipei district court officially ruled that ko wen-je could be released without bail, which means that the taipei district court believed that the evidence provided by the taipei district prosecutors office was insufficient and could not determine that ko wen-je was a serious criminal suspect. ko wen-je could leave without paying a bail and without any restrictions on his personal freedom.

as a negative example, zheng wencan, who was suspected of corruption some time ago, was detained and denied access to visitors for 48 days. the taoyuan district court believed that zheng wencan had serious criminal suspicions, but there was no need to detain him. he was ordered to release him on bail of nt$28 million, but was restricted from living, leaving the country, and going to sea. peng zhensheng, the former deputy mayor of taipei city, who was tried at the same time as ko wen-je, was ordered to be detained and denied access to visitors, and was immediately taken to the taipei detention center in a prison van.

however, being released without bail does not mean being acquitted. the taipei district prosecutors office said that it will sort out the information regarding the ruling and strengthen the relevant evidence. it has filed an appeal at 5 pm on september 3. in the litigation process in taiwan, when the person subject to the ruling disagrees with the court's ruling on the case, he or she can raise reasons within a certain period of time to seek a change, which is called "appeal." in the same case of zheng wencan's corruption, the taoyuan district court ruled on bail several times. after the taoyuan district prosecutors office appealed several times, the taoyuan district prosecutors office successfully changed the ruling of the taoyuan district court to detain zheng wencan without visiting him or her. zheng wencan was dissatisfied and filed an appeal, but it was rejected and he was taken to the detention center.

taiwanese lawyer zhuang qiaoling analyzed that the appeal was not heard by the same judge, and although the evidence was objective, different people had different interpretations. it is still difficult to say whether ko wen-je will be detained in the future.

strait herald reporter ye xinhang