Former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je has been arrested for the second time amid a high-profile corruption investigation. While in detention, he will only be allowed to speak with lawyers to prevent collusion.
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00:00Former Taipei Mayor and presidential candidate Ke Wenzhe is under arrest for a second time just days after being released.
00:07The 65-year-old is embroiled in a corruption scandal linked to his time as Taipei Mayor.
00:12Tiffany Wong is live for us at the Taipei District Court. Tiffany, how did the court re-arrest Ke?
00:22Well, the Taipei District Court has just ruled to detain Ke once again.
00:27And this time, he'll be held incommunicado with only access to his lawyers to prevent collusion.
00:32Now, Ke came back to the court this morning for a hearing called by the high court,
00:37which had overturned the lower court's decision to release Ke without bail on Monday.
00:42Prosecutors protested that decision, appealed to the high court to vacate the ruling,
00:47and detain Ke for two months while they build their case.
00:50They said that he could collude with others involved, and tried to even destroy evidence.
00:56And it seems that here today, this court has agreed with them.
01:00Now, Ke's maintained his innocence and says that this is a case that's already been discussed and closed before.
01:06But the district court is also holding others that he's worked closely with,
01:11including his deputy mayor and three others, incommunicado in relation to this case.
01:17Now, with Ke's second detention, this looks to be the start of a long legal battle ahead for him as he tries to clear his name.