TAIPIE: A former Taipei City mayor who once ran for the presidency was sentenced on Thursday to 17 years in prison for taking bribes and misusing political donations.
Ko Wen-je, the founder of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), which has become a third force in Taiwanese politics, was found guilty by the Taipei District Court where dozens of supporters had gathered ahead of the verdict.
Ko, 66, was charged in December 2024 with corruption relating to a property development when he was Taipei’s mayor.
He was also indicted for misusing donations for the TPP and a charity foundation, and breach of trust.
In addition to the combined 17-year sentence, Ko, who served two terms as Taipei mayor from 2014 to 2022 and made a failed tilt at the presidency in 2024, was banned from running for public office for six years, the court said.
Prosecutors had sought a combined jail term of 28 years and six months.
The property scandal concerned a redevelopment project that saw its floor area ratio substantially increased — done with the city government’s approval which allegedly benefited the developer.
Ko received more than NT$17 million ($532,000) in bribes and was involved in the embezzlement of more than NT$68 million of political donations made to the TPP and a company linked to the party.
He also misused around NT$8 million in donations for a social welfare foundation for his presidential campaign.
Ko stood down as chairman of the TPP in January 2025, several months after he was detained, and was replaced by Huang Kuo-chang, who previously described the charges against the party’s founder as “politically motivated.”
Ko was released on NT$70 million bail in September. He remains on bail while his lawyers appeal the decision.
“What we are seeing is not a trial in a country governed by the rule of law, but a judicial performance driven by political manipulation,” Ko told reporters, insisting he was innocent.
- ‘We will continue to support him’ -
“Regardless of the outcome, we will continue to support him and help him seek justice — that’s certain,” supporter Kenny Yang, a 52-year-old IT worker, told AFP outside the court.
Ko founded the TPP in 2019 as an alternative to the island’s two dominant political parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The former surgeon lost the 2024 presidential race to the DPP’s Lai Ching-te, but still picked up about a quarter of the vote.
Ko’s party secured eight seats, enough to become kingmaker in the legislature where the KMT received one more seat than the DPP.
Instead, the TPP has voted in lockstep with the KMT, which advocates greater cooperation with China.
Both parties have stymied the government’s agenda and stalled Lai’s NT$1.25 trillion defense spending plan.
On Thursday, the KMT expressed its “profound regret” over the court’s decision, which it said “raises serious concerns over politicization of justice.”
After the ruling, the TPP and KMT were “more likely to pursue scorched-earth” tactics against the DPP’s defense bill, political analyst Wen-Ti Sung told AFP.
