First Suspect Pleads Guilty to Bribery in Ko Wen-je Shopping Mall Scandal

TaiwanPlus News

Three weeks after former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je was taken into custody over a shopping mall property scandal, Taipei prosecutors have arrested two suspects on charges of bribery, one of whom has pleaded guilty.

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00:00Appearing up at the Taipei District Prosecutor's Office with his hat down for the second time,

00:08this time with no way out. Zhu Yahu, former president of real estate

00:12developer Dingyue Development Corp., is the first person to plead guilty to bribery in

00:18a scandal involving former Taipei Mayor Ke Wen-je. Prosecutors say there is ample evidence

00:23suggesting that city officials took bribes from the developer to help raise a shopping

00:28mall's property value during Ke's time in office.

00:34Former Director-General of the Mayor's Office Li Wen-zong, who directly handled Ke's finances,

00:39was also brought in for questioning, alongside Zhu, who insists he did nothing wrong.

00:44Ke's party, the Taiwan People's Party, has distanced itself from the case.

01:00This is the second corruption case Li has been caught up with that involves Ke. In August,

01:05the TPP admitted false reporting of campaign expenses and political donations when Ke ran

01:10for president in 2023. Li, who was the party's finance chief, apologized for not being careful

01:16enough during auditing, not knowing he would be paying over US$6,000 in bail on suspicion

01:22of forgery in early September. Some officials already suspect a connection

01:26between the two cases. As city councillors say, numerous donations for the TPP came after

01:32city officials lobbied for the shopping mall project.

01:40The so-called individuals suddenly received a donation of US$300,000 in the same year.

01:44Is it really individuals or heads? I think the TPP should be classified as a green tea project.

01:51Prosecutors are holding Zhu and Li incommunicado as the investigation into the possible links

01:56between the two cases builds in what could determine Ke's and the party's future.

02:02Fu Huahong and Irene Lin for Taiwan Plus.

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