Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Ko Wen-je/Facebook
A LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL from the TPP seeks to end pre-trial detentions over collusion. That is, Taiwan’s criminal justice system allows for pre-trial detention of individuals on the possibility of collusion, referring to that individuals may collaborate with others to conceal or destroy evidence.
In particular, TPP founder Ko Wen-je is currently jailed as a form of pre-trial detention because of the possibility that he would collude with others to change evidence against him. Still, the TPP has denied allegations from the DPP and legal professionals that this change is intended to benefit Ko. TPP opponents have framed the party as seeking to change the legal system for a single individual.
Ko has been accused of seeking to destroy evidence about the case, such as when a cell phone of Ko’s went missing during a trip by Ko to the United States. Ko has also been accused of deleting past text messages to destroy evidence. Ko has been framed by prosecutors as possibly collaborating with his wife, Peggy Chen, to destroy evidence, or with other members of the TPP.
Ko currently faces up to 28 years and six months in jail on corruption charges. The charges facing Ko are primarily linked to the Core Pacific City Mall. Ko is accused of accepting bribes from Core Pacific Group chair Sheen Ching-jing to expand the floor area ratio of the mall from 392% to 840%, giving the mall more than 1,000 ping in extra space, and allowing the Core Pacific City Mall to make an extra 40 billion NT.
Ko also faces charges of appropriating political donations to the TPP for personal use. Ko was accused of keeping election subsidies and using them to purchase office space in his own name, rather than returning the funds to the party or donating them, as the other major presidential candidates did.
Although Ko has been released on bail several times, this was always overturned by prosecutors shortly after. Consequently, Ko has remained in jail for the past ten months.
This is not the first time that the TPP has been accused of seeking to change the legal system for Ko. In a legal proposal last month, the TPP, along with the KMT, pushed through a motion that would have required trials to be livestreamed.
The proposal met with opposition from lawyers’ organizations such as the Judicial Reform Foundation and 16 other civil society groups representing the legal profession, which instead proposed allowing for livestreaming of only cases involving significant public interest, and called for privacy protections for witnesses, experts, and others. These groups also proposed that, before any implementation of livestreaming of cases, a study should be conducted into the possible impact of such livestreaming, and that a trial period be implemented first before any livestreaming is rolled out. Moreover, the TPP was criticized for pushing through a hasty and ill-thought-out legal proposal.
The TPP was likely aiming to keep Ko in the news through footage from trials involving Ko. As a party built around Ko, formed to support a presidential bid by the former Taipei mayor, it has proven difficult for the party to rally without him. Since then, Ko has made the news several times for aggressively responding to prosecutors and judges, which is probably also an attempt by Ko to make the news.
This would be similar to the proposal to end pre-trial detentions. Again, although the motion has been criticized as having large implications for the criminal justice system in allowing for wrongdoing by those who are likely to engage in collusion to potentially escape justice, the aim is probably to get Ko out of jail so that he can continue to campaign for the party.
At the same time, it may be to the benefit of party chair Huang Kuo-chang for Ko to remain in jail, so that he continues to be the most influential figure in the party. Seeing as the party was built around Ko and Huang’s leadership has been maintained through continual displays of loyalty to Ko, Huang must at least make moves as if he seeks to free Ko.