The Taipei District Court has ruled that former Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je can remain in detention for two more months. Ko has been held incommunicado since early September over alleged involvement in illegal real-estate development dealings.
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00:00Ke Wenzhou can be detained for a further two months.
00:04That's the decision out of Taipei's district court in Taiwan's biggest political scandal
00:08this year.
00:09Ke is still technically the leader of Taiwan's third party, Taiwan People's Party, and he
00:15ran for president earlier this year.
00:18He's been held incommunicado since early September, meaning he can't speak to anyone over fears
00:24that he could collude with other defendants during the investigation.
00:29His detainment hasn't been without opposition, though.
00:32Some of Ke's supporters claiming the case against him is politically motivated.
00:37This afternoon, some protesters braving the typhoon debris to protest his continued detention,
00:44claiming he's already been held far too long despite no direct evidence against him.
00:59The court initially detained Ke after ruling that he clearly knew about illegal real estate
01:20deals involving a shopping mall made during his second term as Taipei mayor.
01:24The question is, how much did Ke really know about it?
01:28A lot of people close to Ke are already deeply involved in the case.
01:32One former real estate developer has already pleaded guilty.
01:35And Ke's personal secretary, Xu Zhiyu, who has already been in Japan for several weeks,
01:40is reportedly still abroad, despite calls for her to return, leading some to speculate
01:46that she's deliberately avoiding questioning.
01:49Ke Wenzhou himself has already faced four or five rounds of questioning.
01:54But for now, Ke is facing two more months in detention as this investigation continues.