Taiwan’s People’s Party leader Ko Wen-je has been released after a court ruled there was insufficient evidence to justify his detention.
A Taiwanese court has ordered the release of a former mayor and presidential candidate arrested on suspicion of involvement in a corruption scandal, citing insufficient evidence to justify his detention.
The Taipei District Court ruled on Monday that former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) leader Ko Wen-je should be released after finding that prosecutors lacked sufficient grounds to detain him.
The court said prosecutors failed to meet the standard of finding that it was “highly likely” that Ko had committed the crime.
“We cannot conclude that the defendant… intentionally violated the law,” the court said in its ruling.
Koh was arrested on Saturday as part of an investigation into allegations of corruption in the redevelopment of the Core Pacific City shopping center in the Taiwanese capital.
Former lawmaker Goh, who came in third in January’s presidential election, told reporters outside the court that there was “no evidence” that he was involved in the real estate scandal.
Koh, a former surgeon, entered politics in 2014 when he ran as an independent candidate for Taipei mayor.
He was re-elected as Taipei mayor in 2018, and the following year founded the TPP as a third force challenging the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the China-friendly Kuomintang (KMT).
Under the TPP banner, Ko won about a quarter of the vote in the last presidential election, which was won by the Democratic Progressive Party’s William Reichingter.
Although the TPP has only eight seats in Taiwan’s 113-seat legislature, it has gained enormous influence as neither the DPP nor the KMT have a majority.
Koo, who enjoys a lot of support from young people, was widely seen as a strong candidate for the next general election in 2028, but his popularity has fallen due to a separate campaign finance scandal.
Coe said Thursday that she would take a three-month leave of absence from TPP leadership to set up a private office after taking responsibility for false campaign finance reporting and the use of campaign contributions.
