TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taipei District Prosecutors Office denied claims its staff threatened to leak illicit pictures from Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), who has been charged with corruption, and said it would prove this in court.
After a Thursday court hearing, a post on Ko's Facebook page claimed Prosecutor Lin Chun-yen (林俊言) threatened to release illicit content he said was on Ko's hard drives, per Yahoo News. Ko claimed Lin told him he could prevent this by admitting guilt.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office said on Monday it would refute the claims with evidence in court. It said Ko’s interrogations and other parts of the investigation were recorded with defense attorneys present.
Prosecutors also asked the Taipei District Court, which is hearing Ko’s case, to release the files related to the interrogations. The office said this would clarify prosecutors’ actions.
CNA reported that prosecutors found illicit images on Ko’s hard drives containing content Ko collected online or that friends sent him. The report said prosecutors threatened to release the content to the court because Ko refused their requests to categorize and annotate the alleged images.
Prosecutors did not comment on the specific allegations detailed in the CNA report. Ko said in the Facebook post he could not have possessed the material because of his wife’s strict discipline.
The Control Yuan fined Ko NT$3.74 million (US$113,000) on Wednesday for breaking campaign finance laws during his 2024 presidential campaign. Ko is also awaiting trial for corruption charges relating to the Core Pacific City development during his second term as Taipei mayor between 2018 and 2022.
Ko was indicted along with others on Dec. 26 for bribery, embezzlement, and breach of public trust related to the Core Pacific City case. The bribes were allegedly exchanged for permission to increase the development’s floor area ratio.
