Analysis: Questions Over Ko Prosecution

TaiwanPlus News

TaiwanPlus speaks to Taipei-based lawyer Michael Fahey about the questions raised over the prosecution of Taiwan People's Party founder Ko Wen-je on charges of corruption.

Transcript

00:00Cohen is currently in pre-trial detention where he can be kept for a maximum of four

00:05months while prosecutors build their case against him.

00:08Can you tell us a little bit about how pre-trial detention works in Taiwan and how it differs

00:12from common law countries like the US and the UK?

00:16Pre-trial detention is something that's commonly seen in what we call civil law countries,

00:22which are countries that have legal systems based on continental Europe, especially Germany,

00:31but also France.

00:33And in criminal cases, we see pre-trial detention.

00:38Here in Taiwan, it can be up to four months.

00:43In Japan, I think in theory it's 23 days, but it can be extended many times.

00:49Cohen is far from the only politician in Taiwan to have been investigated for corruption.

00:54Can you tell us how common it is that charges are eventually brought in these cases?

00:58And if he is convicted, what kind of a punishment could he be looking at?

01:03These kinds of cases are extremely common, probably more common on the city and council level.

01:12You'll see cases like this every few months with indictments and pre-trial detentions

01:18of council speakers and civil servants in the bureaucracy and that kind of thing.

01:25You probably see a major case like this involving a national level politician like Ke once every

01:31three or four years.

01:32He'd be looking at a multi-year prison sentence, especially if there was a bribe, seven years,

01:3910 years, something like that.

01:40It depends on the number of acts of corruption and a lot of variables.

01:45Reports of Ke and his Taiwan People's Party say that this investigation into him has got

01:49some serious flaws, what they've called procedural injustice, and they've even gone so far as

01:55to say that the current government is carrying out what it calls political persecution.

01:59Do you think that their concerns over the way this case has been handled are legitimate?

02:04I think that they have some legitimate concerns, but those are concerns that all criminal suspects

02:11have in Taiwan.

02:13Their main concern seems to be that information is leaking out of the prosecutorial investigation

02:21that's adverse to Mayor Ke, and they're right.

02:27Those proceedings are supposed to be absolutely confidential and secret.

02:32I also think that there's a serious concern with the abuse of the pre-trial detention

02:38procedure as a form of hostage justice.

02:42It's real easy for the prosecutors to put two or three different people involved in

02:47the case in pre-trial detention.

02:50It's scary.

02:51There's a lot of questioning late at night.

02:55They're using it as a tool to coerce.

02:59I think they have some legitimate complaints, but they're complaints that all criminal defendants

03:04in Taiwan have, and hopefully this will be a chance for everybody to reflect on how we

03:09can have a more just criminal justice system.

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