TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former Taipei City Urban Development Commissioner Lin Jou-min (林洲民) testified Thursday in the ongoing graft case involving former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and the Core Pacific project.

Prosecutors summoned Lin to determine whether Ko directed him to take any actions regarding the controversial development project during Lin’s tenure as commissioner, per FTV. Lin said that Ko gave him no instructions. However, he called the 20% floor area bonus awarded to the project, a bonus reserved for urban renewal initiatives, “unreasonable.”

Lin emphasized that neither Ko nor then Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮) intervened in decisions related to the project during his time in office. He noted that the 560% floor area ratio approved at the time was legal and said the decisions were made independently by him and his colleagues at the Department of Urban Development, per UDN.

However, Lin criticized the additional 20% floor area bonus granted to the project after he left the department. He said that the Core Pacific site had been demolished 10 years before becoming eligible for the award and should not have qualified under standard urban renewal criteria, per UDN.

Lin further challenged the Taipei City Government’s justification for granting the bonus, saying it was unrelated to actual urban renewal objectives. He said while the public may seek such bonuses, the government must review applications based on legal standards.

Referring to official documents reviewed during a September 2024 investigation, Lin said it appeared that no civil servants working on the project agreed to move it forward. He suggested that Urban Planning Commission Executive Secretary Shao Hsiu-pei (邵琇珮), who pleaded guilty to abuse of power on Jan. 23, may have been pressured to approve the bonus.

Lin was also questioned about Ko’s claim that the floor area ratio discrepancy in the project could represent a difference of NT$10 billion (US$334 million). Lin admitted he was unsure how Ko arrived at that figure but acknowledged the well-known disparity between a 560% and 678% floor area ratio, per ETtoday.

After Lin’s testimony, Ko questioned how the Core Pacific Project could have advanced if all the civil servants involved opposed it, per CNA. He insisted no one raised concerns during previous discussions.

Ko also said that during his second term, he was focused on managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Lin responded by highlighting the opposition from major city officials, including Shao, and said he, too, wanted to understand how the project was approved.