Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je has been charged in real estate project and campaign finance scandals.
Taiwan’s former presidential candidate Ko Wen-je has been indicted for allegedly accepting bribes and misusing political donations.
Ko was charged by prosecutors on Thursday following an investigation into alleged corruption in the redevelopment of a Taipei shopping center during his time as mayor of the Taiwanese capital and campaign finance irregularities during his 2024 presidential bid.
The Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement that it was seeking a 28.5-year prison sentence for Ko, who is accused of taking T$17.1 million ($522,392) in bribes and receiving donations worth more than $68 to have embezzled millions of T$.
Prosecutors also announced charges against several members of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in Ko for misusing political donations.
Ko, who served as mayor of Taipei from 2014 to 2022, previously denied wrongdoing in a real estate development case following his arrest in August but admitted misreporting campaign funds.
A Taipei court ruled the following month that Ko, a trained surgeon, should be released from custody because prosecutors had not met the criteria of a “high probability” that he had committed a crime.
Ko, who came third in January’s presidential election with about 27 percent of the vote, was widely seen as a contender for the presidency in 2028.
The TPP, which Ko co-founded in 2019, holds eight seats in the 113-member Legislative Yuan.
The party has worked with the pro-Beijing Kuomintang to pass a series of controversial legislative changes that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party says are aimed at limiting President William Lai Ching-te’s ability to rule the island.
