Taiwan's high court has vacated a lower court's judgment to release former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je without bail in relation to a corruption case. A new hearing on Ko's involvement in the case has been called today.
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00:00Former Taipei mayor and presidential candidate Ke Wenzhe is back in court just days after
00:05being released.
00:06The 64-year-old is embroiled in a corruption scandal linked to his time as Taipei mayor.
00:12Tiffany Wang is live for us at the Taipei District Court.
00:15Tiffany, why is Ke doing back in court?
00:19Well, essentially Ke is back here in court today because prosecutors want him in custody
00:27while they're undergoing this investigation.
00:29They say that they have reason to believe he may try to collude with others involved
00:33in the case or even try to destroy evidence.
00:36Now on Wednesday night, the high court issued a statement saying that based on their review
00:42of the evidence and testimony, they have reason to believe that Ke may have actively interfered
00:47in the real estate dealing at the center of this investigation.
00:51Now the lower court let him go on Monday after two days straight of questioning.
00:56Many legal experts said that this indicated that they had insufficient evidence to connect
01:02Ke to this issue, but prosecutors have protested that decision.
01:07They appealed to the high court to revoke his release and detained him for two months
01:15while they tried to set up their case.
01:18Now the high court did order that release revoked, and so Ke was seen back here again
01:24at the court today at 9 a.m.
01:26Now Ke's remained insistent that he had nothing to do with this real estate project,
01:30that it was overseen by the city's urban planning committee while he was mayor,
01:34but others that he worked closely with, including his deputy mayor and three others involved
01:40have been detained and held incommunicado in relation to this case.
01:46And Tiffany, what happens next for Ke?
01:48When are we expecting a result?
01:51Well, we may hear a ruling, a decision as soon as tonight,
01:56although the formal proceedings have just begun a few minutes ago.
02:00Now if the court rules in the prosecution's favor, that will see Ke detained for up to two months
02:05while they're investigating this case.
02:07Of course, he could still be released on bail.
02:10Now these kind of proceedings in Taiwan sometimes take a while.
02:13They could go back and forth, like we saw with another corruption investigation
02:18into the former vice premier.
02:21He went through three bail hearings back and forth before they finally detained him
02:26and indicted him for the case.
02:29Now if these proceedings go in Ke's favor, that will see him released,
02:34but of course he could still be investigated in connection with this case.
02:39Now although the proceedings are still ongoing, this has already damaged Ke's reputation.
02:45He's had to step down as the chair of the Taiwan People's Party, which is the party that he founded.
02:51There are still some supporters that came out today to rally and give him their support,
02:58but still he will have a long way to go to rebuild their trust,
03:02and just how long that journey is depends on the court's ruling today.