Another bail hearing has been called for former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je who is out on bail after being indicted on corruption charges. Prosecutors argue Ko could try to collude with other people involved in the case, including at least three other defendants who have also been released on bail.
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00:00Former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je is back in court and his release on bail is once again at stake.
00:08Now the district court is discussing whether to leave him out of detention.
00:14Prosecutors say that he could try to collude with others and they successfully appealed
00:18to the high court to get the lower court to reconsider.
00:21Since Ko's release last week on an original bail of almost one million U.S. dollars, prosecutors
00:26successfully appealed once, causing his bail to be hiked to over two million U.S. dollars
00:31and requiring him to wear an ankle monitor.
00:34Plus, three other suspects out on bail also had their bail amounts raised and they may
00:39be back in detention, including real estate developer Shen Xing-ching, Taipei City Councilor
00:45Ying Xiaowei and Ko's election finance chief Li Wen-zong, who are all facing a second appeal
00:50by prosecutors on the same grounds.
00:53Ko has been charged with accepting bribes and embezzling political funds and he faces
00:58a 28-and-a-half-year sentence if found guilty on all charges.
01:03Prosecutors are investigating him and several others for their alleged involvement in a
01:06land redevelopment project while he was mayor and his suspected misuse of campaign funds
01:12during his run for president last year.
01:14Five of them, including Ko, were released on bail on the condition that they would not
01:18contact each other and would not leave the country.
01:21And now, prosecutors are still fighting to bring them back to detention and it looks
01:25like there's going to be a lot of back and forth between prosecutors, the high court
01:29and the district court as prosecutors make sure that the defendants stay out of the investigation.
01:35Yisun Chen and Tiffany Wong in Taipei for Taiwan Plus.