Prosecution's Battle to "Rescue" Ko
By Hsia Chen, The Storm Media Commentary, October 25, 2024
In ten days, Chairman Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) will be detained for two months. During these 50 days, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office has tried its best to prove that there is indeed a “cash flow” problem between the Core Pacific Group. Regrettably, apart from the unproven investigative information that is flying around, and the “cold wallet” that everyone laughed at, there is still no irrefutable evidence of “cash flow”. The prosecution conducted a large-scale interrogation of various “donors” who have made political contributions to Ko or the TPP. This only reinforces one question: What is the relationship between these people and the case of Living Mall? Is the prosecution investigating Ko’s abuse of public power for private profit? Or is it a bribery allegation or just a political donation case?
Ironically, the more the Taipei District Prosecutors Office tries to bring Chairman Ko to justice, the greater the chance of Ko’s innocence, given that prosecutorial investigations have exceeded the principle of proportionality. “Full disclosure of investigations” is the biggest failure, and certain media outlets have published numerous reports on it as an “inside story”. The “Mirror Media’s investigations” have almost replaced Taipei District Prosecutors Office’s investigations. Kuomintang (KMT) and TPP Legislators criticized the Ministry of Justice for living in a parallel universe. Even ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators went crazy. They slapped the table and rebuked Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien, who affirmed there was no violation of the investigations. They questioned Minister Cheng, “if there is no violation of non-disclosure of the investigations, does it mean that the devil knows about it?” Minister Cheng not only denied the investigations were made public, but also firmly stated that the so-called “detaining people for confession” was groundless. What he said might be true. Ko refused to be interrogated, and the prosecution could not obtain a confession even if people involved were detained.
The latest poll released by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation (TPOF) shows that 47 percent of the respondents believe that Chairman Ko received a “fair trial.” Whether this figure is consistent with the fact is a matter of debate, it is worth noting that 34 percent still believe that Ko has not received a fair trial. And more than 10 percent of the respondents think it is “hard to tell” (not necessarily fair). Only less than half of the respondents believe in “fair trial”. What kind of "credibility" does this kind of judiciary have? The most serious issue is that if the Taipei District Prosecutors Office really finds evidence of money flow, with the revelations fueled by the “Mirror Media’s investigations”, it may lead to the result of “the boy who cried wolf.” Those who don’t believe it are still not convinced, then the Ko case will become a lesson learned that Taiwan’s justice is unfair and justice serves political purposes. It is not a problem whether Ko can be beaten to death. The real problem is that half of the life of the judicial system will be scrapped due to the Ko case.
To put it simply, the Political Donations Act mainly regulates administrative penalties. Failure to declare or omit reporting in accordance with the law, or incorrectly accepting political contributions that are not acceptable. The most severe consequences are a heavy fine or confiscation into the national treasury. Those who accept political contributions not through a designated bank account or raise campaign funds by issuing bonds or securities are subject to criminal liability. From this perspective, Chairman Ko did open a dedicated account and hasn’t engaged in any bond or securities fundraising. Hsu Zhi-yu who was accused of being Ko’s personal accountant was reclassified as a defendant under the Political Donations Act. Given her remaining in Japan, Hsu even was not called as a witness. This seems ridiculous. This is not detaining a person to obtain a confession, but threatening to obtain confession across the border.
The Taipei District Prosecutors Office expanded the scope of its probe, but showed that the investigations were in disarray from direction to means. Taking the “cold wallet” as an example, the pro-DPP media has been speculating for a month in cooperation with the “Mirror Media inspections”. TPP Spokeswoman Chen Chi-han claimed that it was just a souvenir given by a tech company when Chairman Ko attended its event. An anonymous prosecutor was seriously troubled by no such a “golden key” to the wallet, or suspected that the golden key was in Hsu’s pocket. The prosecutors rely on storytelling to conduct their investigations. Is it not true that they try to frame an allegation against Ko?
Chairman Ko’s detention is about to expire, and political commentators regardless of blue or green camps all claimed that the detention will definitely be postponed and Ko will definitely be prosecuted. It does not mean that they are convinced that the Taipei District Prosecutors Office has sufficient evidence. On the contrary, it is because the prosecution has made a big move without getting actual results. The prosecution will continue to look for the “golden key” with an extended detention. If there is no prosecution ultimately, there will be compensation for Ko’s unjust detention. Wouldn’t the prosecution lose face?
As far as the prosecutors are concerned, if the money flow cannot be found, they can still prosecute Chairman Ko for receiving illegal political contributions. As for whether Ko could be convicted is a matter for the court. But this is the most serious “infringement” in the prosecutors’ misconduct investigations in political cases. If Ko is the political target, no matter what the court’s verdict is, the prosecutors will get a high score in their credit report. It serves as a stepping stone for their future promotion. No prosecutor will be punished for prosecuting the alleged who can be found not guilty. Just like the investigations are fully disclosed, the justice minister can confidently argue that “there is no violation of non-disclosure of investigations” and “detaining relevant people for confession is baseless.” No matter what the truth of the cold wallet is, the prosecutor will shirk the responsibility and nothing will happen to them.
Why do they need to spend so much time and effort to destroy Chairman Ko and the TPP? Just look into the TPP’s messy and problematic account book- whether it is the presidential election campaign accounting report or the inflated, misreported, and erroneous reporting of party workers’ paychecks, it is enough to drive Ko crazy. Moreover, except mobilizing within the party in support of Ko, no one of the TPP can rectify the flaws of the campaign account. Ko in the detention center does not have to clarify why the TPP which upholds financial discipline has a mess in its financial management. The investigations by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office and the Mirror Media to spill the beans is enough to verify the account statement. Either the prosecution’s handling of the Ko case and the TPP’s handling of its account is all a big mess. It’s hard to believe someone who can be trusted. It’s pathetic that justice has to be sacrificed for the sake of Ko. Is the price too high for all?
Photo from: The Storm Media
Article from: https://www.storm.mg/article/5261344?mode=whole