Former Taipei Mayor Ko Wenzhe was sentenced to 17 years in the first instance for his involvement in Beijing City, political donations and other cases. The High Court will hold a preparatory court on the 8th. In this regard, media person Wu Jingyi said that Ke Wenzhe will be admitted to the detention center next year at the earliest? The first step of the second trial is to investigate political donations. "Where did Xiaocao's money go?" It may become the biggest unexploded bomb before the People's Party election. How long can Huang Guochang and the People's Party protect it?
Wu Jingyi stated in a Facebook post that on September 8, 2025, Ke Wenzhe paid a 70 million bail and walked out of the Taipei Detention Center. Exactly one year later, at 3 pm on September 8, 2026, the first preparatory proceedings of the second instance of the Taiwan High Court opened. Many people thought that I originally thought that the first battle would be against Beijing City, but the first cards listed by the High Court were political donations, Muke Company and Zhongwang Foundation. This really hit the most vulnerable point of Ke Wenzhe's "new politics", "Chairman, where did the lunch money we saved and donated to you go?"
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The court of first instance found that Ke Wenzhe was involved in misappropriating political donations, misappropriating funds through Muco Company, and misappropriating more than 8.27 million yuan from the People's Hope Foundation to pay the salaries of campaign headquarters personnel. These findings will now be re-attacked and defended in the second instance. In particular, accountant Duanmu changed his plea in the second instance, making "who did the accounting, who knew, and who made the decision" a focus. In the past, the People's Party simplified the issue into "accounting errors," but this may no longer be enough in the second instance.
What the court wants to see is whether the political donations, Mu Ke and the foundation are normal transactions, or whether they are a sophisticated money laundering machine that "realizes" the enthusiasm of supporters into private capital. Ke Wenzhe maintains that relevant transactions have actual goods, authorizations and service considerations. What this lawsuit really wants to unravel is how the entire financial flow operates.
Wu Jingyi pointed out, is it really possible that Ke Wenzhe will be imprisoned again as soon as next year? The first instance on March 26 this year sentenced Ke Wenzhe to 17 years in prison and six years of deprivation of public power. When broken down, it was four crimes. He violated his duties and accepted bribes for 13 years: seven employees of Weiking Group each donated 300,000 yuan, a total of 2.1 million yuan, which was deemed to be the "pre-money" in the Jinghua City case, and two years of public welfare embezzlement: Zhou Junji's wife Zhou Wangmeiwen, Xie Guoliang's mother Lin Man Li and Lin Mingqun each received 2 million yuan, and the total of 6 million yuan was not entered into the special account of the People’s Party and was not reported to the Supervisory Yuan. In June 3, they embezzled 61,346,790 yuan in political donations through Muke Company. In June 2019, they misappropriated more than 8.27 million yuan from the Zhongwang Foundation to pay the salaries of Xu Zhiyu and other campaign staff.
Wu Jingyi continued that the crime of breach of trust is a case that cannot be appealed to the third instance under Article 376 of the Criminal Procedure Law. Therefore, if the High Court upholds this part of the guilt in the second instance, the crime of breach of trust may be determined first and enter the execution process. The outside world estimates based on the current progress of the second trial that the results may come as soon as next year. The key still remains when the second trial will be pronounced, and whether the conviction of breach of trust will ultimately be upheld. How long can Huang Guochang continue to play the role of taking over power in the post-Ke Wenzhe era?
Wu Jingyi analyzed that Huang Guochang registered to observe again today. The cost of escorting until today is written in the polls. The support for the political party of the People's Party is only 6.3%. This second trial happens to span the final sprint of the 2026 local elections. The people's party will face a very cruel situation. A cool political dilemma: If you defend Ke Wenzhe all the way, you may have your local election campaign continue to be tied up by Beijing, political donations, Mu Ke and foundations, making it more difficult to expand the middle voters; but if you want to keep a distance from Ke Wenzhe, you may also be subject to the campaign of Ke fans. Without Ko Wenzhe, we are afraid that the grassroots will not vote; if we cling to Ko Wenzhe, we are also afraid that the middle voters will not come. Every time Ko Wenzhe holds a court session, he may once again withdraw the political credibility of the People's Party.
Wu Jingyi bluntly said that Ko Wenzhe relied on "openness and transparency, small fund-raising, and new politics" to rise. Now, the most difficult thing to explain clearly to supporters is the money donated by supporters. That is the real unexploded bombs of the People's Party. From the 2026 election to the risk that Ke Wenzhe may face imprisonment, how long will Huang Guochang and the People's Party tie the entire party to Ke Wenzhe's judicial fate? "Where did Xiaocao's money go?" Ke Wenzhe needs to give a good explanation.
