《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Ko should quit if Ma is cleared: Ma spokesman

ACQUIESCENT? President Ma Ying-jeou seemed to surrender to his potential referral to the judiciary over suspected lawbreaking in the Taipei Dome project

By Shih Hsiu-chuan / Staff reporter

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Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je （柯文哲） should put his career on the line if the city government decides to refer President Ma Ying-jeou （馬英九） for judicial investigation over the Taipei Dome project, Presidential Office spokesperson Charles Chen （陳以信） said yesterday.

The Taipei City Clean Government Committee on Friday recommended that the city government report Ma and former Taipei Department of Finance commissioner Lee Sush-der （李述德） to the Ministry of Justice after it found evidence suggesting that they illegally profited the developer, Farglory Land Development Co （遠雄建設）, in commissioning the project.

In response, Chen yesterday said that if the Taipei City Government decides to go with the recommendation, Ko should promise capital residents that he would “take political responsibility” for his decision if the judiciary clears Ma’s name.

Ko must make the promise to prove that political considerations played no part in the committee’s investigation and the committee did not act as his political henchman, as several committee members were affiliated with the Democratic Progressive Party, Chen said.

Chen listed as examples former president Chen Shui-bian’s （陳水扁） lawyer Cheng Wen-lung （鄭文龍）; Yuan Shu-hui （袁秀慧）, a former staff member for then-DPP chairman Frank Hsieh （謝長廷）; and Hung Chih-kun （洪智坤）, a former assistant to Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu （陳菊）.

The bond among the committee members and the DPP has cast the impartiality and credibility of the committee into question, Charles Chen said.

Earlier yesterday, Ma was asked for comment.

In response to reporters’ questions about whether he was worried about an investigation and whether he considered the committee’s move “political prosecution,” Ma said: “Everything has been done in accordance with the law.”

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES