FILE PHOTO: Ko Wen-je, presidential candidate of Taiwan People's Party (TPP), looks on during the day of a press conference ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections, in Taipei, Taiwan January 12, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo
TAIPEI (Reuters) - A court on Monday released a former mayor of Taipei who now heads a small opposition party after he was arrested in a graft probe of a major property development in the Taiwanese capital, saying there was a lack of evidence.
Ko Wen-je, mayor from 2014 to 2022 and who came third in January's presidential election, was arrested on Saturday after investigators raided his home and his Taiwan People's Party (TPP) and questioned him for hours.
Ko has denied wrongdoing in the case, which involves approvals given for a property project when he was mayor.
Speaking to reporters and supporters after being released, Ko reiterated that he had done nothing wrong and said there was no reason for the raid by the prosecutors.
"I don't understand the aim," he said.
Taipei prosecutors said they will appeal the court's decision.
In a separate case, Ko and the TPP have also acknowledged that campaign funds during the presidential campaign were misreported. Ko said last week he would temporarily step down as party chairman while that case is investigated and apologised to party supporters.
Ko has been widely expected by Taiwan media to seek the presidency again at the next election in 2028. But opinion polls have shown that the campaign fund scandal in particular has hammered support for him and the TPP, which he founded in 2019 in an attempt to create a third force in Taiwanese politics.
The TPP has only eight lawmakers in Taiwan's 113-seat parliament but has an outsized role as neither the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nor the largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), has a majority.
The TPP and KMT joined forces this year to push through reforms to give parliament greater oversight power that prompted mass protests. Those reforms, opposed by President Lai Ching-te's DPP, are being reviewed by Taiwan's constitutional court.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)
