Ying Hsiao-wei, center, leaves the court after being set free on bail today.
Dec. 28, 2024. Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇) on Saturday rejected allegations she still held a Canadian passport and should therefore lose her seat.
The KMT politician was released on NT$15 million (US$456,000) bail Friday as one of the main defendants in the Core Pacific City corruption case. She was accused of having accepted bribes from developer Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) to pressure the Taipei City administration of then-Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) into illegally expanding the floor area ratio of the Core Pacific City project.
Following allegations that prosecutors found Ying owned a second passport, her attorney presented a “certificate of renunciation” showing she had renounced Canadian citizenship, the Liberty Times reported. Ying obtained the document in 2011, within a year after being elected to Taipei City Council, the attorney said.
Ying reportedly migrated to Canada with her family in 1981, but applied for the renunciation of her Canadian passport at the Canadian office in Taiwan after winning election. She received the document on Feb. 10, 2011, and had it certified by the Taiwan office in Toronto three months later.
The attorney said Ying had returned her passport to the Canadian office and no longer held any other nationality than the Taiwan one. He added he would present the certificate of renunciation and the receipt from the Taiwan office in Toronto to a Taipei District Court hearing about the issue scheduled for Dec. 31.
Sheen Ching-jing leaves the court in a wheelchair after being set free on bail today.