Overview
- Ko Wen-je, the 66-year-old former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party founder, was convicted Thursday and received a 17-year prison term plus a six-year deprivation of civil rights, with the verdict open to appeal.
- Taiwan’s election law bars anyone convicted of corruption, sentenced to 10 years or more, or stripped of civil rights from running for president, which could block Ko from the 2028 race unless the ruling is overturned.
- The court said only NT$2.1 million counted as a bribe in the Core Pacific City case after rejecting an uncorroborated NT$15 million payment that prosecutors had alleged.
- Judges also found Ko misused political donations and breached public trust, setting a combined sentence drawn from 13 years for corruption, two years and three years and six months for donation offenses, and two years for breach of trust.
- Core Pacific founder Sheen Ching-jing was sentenced to 10 years and Taipei councilor Ying Hsiao-wei to 15 years and six months, as TPP chairman Huang Kuo-chang condemned the ruling and China’s state-run Global Times cast it as ruling-party interference.