Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office continues to investigate the Jinghua City case while simultaneously pursuing another case involving alleged false political donation accounts linked to the chairman of the People’s Party, Ko Wen-je. Today (September 12th) in the afternoon, accountant Duanmu Zheng was once again summoned to clarify the situation.
According to reports from Apple News website, the prosecutor’s office found discrepancies in Ko Wen-je’s political donation declarations. Besides the previously exposed 9.16 million New Taiwan Dollars donated by Neo and Sino Joy companies, Ko also authorized multiple transfers of political donations to the Mu Ke company, with four of them totaling a suspicious amount of 13 million New Taiwan Dollars.
To determine the possible connection between the political donations and the Jinghua City case, a large-scale search and interrogation were conducted on August 14th. Duanmu Zheng, bookkeeper Chen Weixuan, Mu Ke company owner Li Wenjuan, and employee He Aiting were questioned by prosecutors. Following late-night interrogations, Duanmu Zheng was released on bail of 1 million New Taiwan Dollars.
On August 27th, Chen Weixuan was once again summoned to clarify the accounts. After confirming his involvement in handling Ko Wen-je’s political donations, Duanmu Zheng was summoned for a second time on the 29th and then released after interrogation.
Duanmu Zheng explained that due to time constraints on reporting, he followed Li Wenjuan’s verbal instructions to “submit the accounts first, and provide the receipts later.” Therefore, he initially reported a total of 9.16 million NTD for promotional expenses without providing the receipts later on.
Today on the afternoon of the 12th, Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office summoned Duanmu Zheng again. After questioning by the prosecutor, Duanmu Zheng left the office around 2 p.m. when journalists asked, “Did Chairman Ko use Mu Ke company for money laundering? Did Chairman Ko give you instructions?” Zheng remained silent.
In addition, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office also interrogated former Taipei Deputy Mayor, Peng Zhensheng, who is currently in custody, to understand the decision-making process in the Jinghua City case. Statements from former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je, as well as Kuomintang Taipei City Councilor Ying Xiaowei, were compared. Furthermore, former Taipei City Urban Development Bureau Director Lin Zhoumin was subpoenaed to provide clarifications in witness capacity.
Prior to this, the Agency Against Corruption had previously interrogated Lin Zhoumin on the 3rd, but he was not brought back for questioning by the prosecutor that day. According to reports from Taiwan’s Central News Agency, Lin Zhoumin confirmed that he had signed documents and publicly warned Ko Wen-je during a morning meeting. He mentioned that if KMT Taipei City Councilor Ying Xiaowei’s questionings favored Jinghua City’s plot, the city government might have to bear legal responsibility for undue advantage. Records of these discussions were reportedly kept in the city government at the time.
Around 10 a.m. today, prosecutors first summoned Lin Zhoumin to explain the process of the Jinghua City petition case and the actions taken by Ko’s city government during his tenure at the Urban Development Bureau in Taipei. Moreover, Ko Wen-je is also implicated in the Fish Market bribery case, and related questions were posed to Lin Zhoumin during the 6-hour interrogation session that ended at 4 p.m. When leaving the prosecutors’ office, Lin Zhoumin did not respond to media inquiries about his involvement in the planning of the Fish Market.