The Taipei District Prosecutors Office (TDPO) on Thursday charged  Ko Wen-je, the former mayor of Taipei and leader of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), for bribery and other corruption offenses in connection with a real estate development project known as the Core Pacific City. The prosecutors sought an imprisonment sentence of 28 years and six months for Ko Wen-je.

Taipei’s prosecutors accused Ko Wen-je of accepting bribes exceeding $500.000 related to a property development project in Taipei during his tenure as the city’s mayor from 2018 to 2022. Additionally, Ko Wen-je was indicted for embezzling $2 million in political donations to pay the salaries of his campaign staff during the 2024 presidential election. Taipei’s District Chief Prosecutor Kao Yi-shu stated in a press conference that Wen-je violated his oath of office and Taiwanese law by accepting bribes. He added that authorities possessed sufficient evidence, including excuses and pretense, pointing out the politician’s poor attitude following the crime.

The requested prison sentence for Ko Wen-je included 15 years for bribery along with sentences of five years and six years for two cases of embezzlement and two and a half years for breach of public trust. These charges fall under Article 5 of the Anti-Corruption Act and Article 336 of Taiwan’s criminal code.

In response, the TPP condemned its leader’s indictment, asserting it is politically motivated. The party criticized the prosecutors for failing to provide evidence or a money trail to prove that Ko Wen-je received bribes and claimed that the proposed 28-year prison sentence was based on “fabricated charges”.

Ko Wen-je is a Taiwanese politician who served as the mayor of Taipei from 2014 to 2022 and founded the TPP in 2019. He was also the TPP’s candidate for the 2024 presidential election, which he lost to the current President Lai Ching-te.

His indictment comes four months after his arrest in August due to corruption suspicions in Taipei’s shopping center project, known as the Core Pacific City case. The prosecution office accused Ko Wen-je and several other officials of illegally increasing the floor area ratio of the Core Pacific City redevelopment project when he was mayor in collusion with the real-estate company to raise the property’s financial value. However, he was released a few days after his arrest based on an order from the Taipei District Court due to a lack of evidence, as investigators could not prove that he was aware his decisions were illegal and that they benefited the developers.