Ko Wen-je Released on Bail After Late-Night Hearing

TaiwanPlus News

Former Taipei mayor and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je has been released on bail following a hearing that lasted until the early hours of Friday morning. After being detained for four months, Ko was charged Thursday with taking bribes during his time as Taipei mayor.

Transcript

00:00Former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je has been released on bail after a hearing that

00:05lasted until the early hours of Friday morning. The one-time presidential

00:10hopeful was charged with bribery and mishandling political funds on Thursday

00:15and is facing 28 and a half years in jail. Tiffany Wong is live for us at the

00:21Taipei District Court. Tiffany, what was the reaction like when Ko was let out?

00:28Former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je is back at home after four months held incommunicado

00:34and he walked out of the courthouse today smiling as he heard cheers from

00:39his supporters for the first time in months. He was granted that 915,000 US

00:45dollar bail today and he went home and broke down as he addressed his

00:52supporters for the first time thanking them for their presence over the past

00:56few months and still maintaining his innocence. Here, let's listen to what he had to say.

01:21His supporters and party members fought tirelessly last night waiting

01:26until 3 a.m. when the court finally granted, gave him that bail offer. Now

01:33they have still maintained his innocence and now the court has said that they

01:38have not found any reason for prosecutors to continue holding them as

01:42they investigate as they have been for the past few months. Now Ko was happy to

01:48finally see his supporters after so long but it's possible that he will try to

01:53keep a low profile for the rest of the trial as the rest of the country is

01:57gripped by this corruption scandal.

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