TPP Founder Ko Wen-je Speaks Out After Release on US$2M Bail

TaiwanPlus News

Former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People's Party founder Ko Wen-je has thanked his supporters and proclaimed his innocence after being released on bail of US$2 million. Ko has spent most of the past year detained incommunicado while being investigated for allegedly accepting bribes and embezzling public funds.

Transcript

00:00A huge commotion at the Taipei District Courthouse as Taiwan People's Party founder

00:08Ke Wen-je emerges after paying a U.S. $2 million bail. The former mayor of Taipei had spent a year

00:16detained in Communicado as prosecutors investigated him for corruption and embezzlement.

00:30Standing next to his wife Chen Peiqi and TPP Chair Huang Guochang, Ke reflected on his time in

00:38detention, proclaiming his innocence and saying that even after a year, prosecutors have not

00:44found evidence of wrongdoing. The court decided it's unlikely that Ke will try to destroy evidence

00:50or collude with others involved, given prosecutors already had a year to investigate, though they

00:55could still appeal the court's decision. And while he's out for now, Ke will need to wear

01:00an ankle monitor and can't leave the country. Ke and his supporters were defiant, accusing the

01:05government and President Lai Qingde of interfering in the justice system.

01:09The ruling Democratic Progressive Party on Monday morning said it respects the judicial process,

01:36but that it doesn't comment on individual cases. After speaking to the media,

01:40Ke was swept into the crowd, hundreds of supporters waiting in the afternoon heat to catch a glimpse of him.

01:51Ke plans to visit his mother in Xinzhu and his father's grave before returning home

01:56for the first time in months. Ryan Wu, Fu Hua Hong and Tiffany Wong in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.

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