Ann Kao

Ann Kao Hung-an (; born 25 January 1984) is a Taiwanese business executive, engineer, and politician. She worked for Foxconn until 2020, when she was elected to the Legislative Yuan as a member of the Taiwan People's Party (TPP). Partway through her legislative term, Kao was elected Mayor of Hsinchu during the 2022 local election cycle. On 26 July 2024, Kao was removed from office and withdrew from the TPP due to corruption allegations.

Early life, education, and career

Kao was born on 25 January 1984 in Taipei. She completed a bachelor's degree in information and computer education at National Taiwan Normal University before earning a master's degree from the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at National Taiwan University. Kao then pursued graduate studies in the United States and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. Her doctoral studies were partially funded by the Institute for Information Industry (III).

While working as a researcher for the III, Kao was also a cofounder and part-time employee of Servtech. Immediately prior to running for political office, Kao worked closely with Terry Gou as vice president of Foxconn's Industrial Big Data Office.

Legislative Yuan

In the 2020 legislative election, Kao ranked third on the Taiwan People's Party's party list and was elected to the 10th Legislative Yuan via proportional representation. During the campaign period, the Central Election Commission reported that Kao held NT$8.77 million in foreign currency deposits. In February 2020, Kao was appointed head of party affairs in the city of Taichung, and the counties of Changhua and Nantou.

Hsinchu mayoralty

In July 2022, the Taiwan People's Party nominated Kao as its candidate for Hsinchu mayor. Six candidates contested the office, including of the Kuomintang and the Democratic Progressive Party's . During Kao's campaign, Mirror Media reported that her doctoral dissertation, authored at the University of Cincinnati, was allegedly plagiarized from two studies she had taken part in as a researcher. Both the research and Kao's doctoral study were subsidized by the Institute for Information Industry. She filed a defamation lawsuit against Mirror Media for publishing the allegations. Institute president Cho Cheng-hung later told the Legislative Yuan that Kao's doctoral thesis had plagiarized 70–80% of the report she had written for the III. On 25 October 2022, the III sued Kao, claiming that she had used copyrighted information in her doctoral thesis. Later, prosecutors declined to charge her for breach of trust due to insufficient evidence, ending the III's legal actions against Kao.

Separately, Lin Keng-jen accused Kao of violating the Anti-Corruption Act. Lin also questioned whether Kao had fraudulently hired her alleged partner. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau duly investigated Kao on these and other allegations, including accepting illegal political donations. The day before the 2022 mayoral election, a whistleblower brought attention to an instance of alleged intimidation by a member of Kao's legislative staff toward a former member of the staff. Despite the allegations against Kao, she won the mayoral election with 98,121 votes (45%), ahead of Shen (35.7%) and Lin (18%). Prior to taking office as mayor, investigators searched Kao's legislative offices and questioned her in regards to the allegations against her.

Upon taking office on 25 December 2022, Kao became the first female Mayor of Hsinchu, and the youngest female county magistrate or mayor in Taiwanese history. Her legislative seat was filled by Chen Wan-hui.

In June 2024, following Kao's indictment, an anonymous person launched a campaign to recall her as mayor, citing issues such as an apartment complex fire and allegations of allowing her boyfriend to "exert undue influence in city affairs." As of August, the campaign failed to gain enough signatures in a first-round petition. Organizers said the campaign had reached 53% of the required threshold of signatures in mid-December.

Legal issues

Corruption charges related to overtime pay

On 14 August 2023, prosecutors charged Kao with corruption dating back to her tenure as a legislator. Kao denied the allegations, and said that the indictment was politically motivated. The following month, the Taiwan People's Party temporarily suspended Kao's party membership rights pending a verdict on the case.

On 26 July 2024, the Taipei District Court found Kao guilty of violating the Anti-Corruption Act and the . Specifically, the court found her guilty of embezzling NT$116,514 and sentenced her to seven years and four months in prison. The court also said that she would lose her civil rights for four years. In accordance with the law, Kao was suspended from office. Subsequently, she announced her withdrawal as a member of the Taiwan People's Party. Kao said that the ruling was unprecedented when compared to similar cases in the past decade. The TPP said that the sentence was disproportionate.

Kao appealed the case to the Taiwan High Court. In January 2025, the court paused their review of the case to seek guidance from the Constitutional Court, because the first paragraph of Article 32 of the Organic Law of the Legislative Yuan was found to contravene Article 18 of the Constitution. The Constitutional Court declined to hear the case.

Allegation related to property developer

In September 2023, the Hsinchu District Prosecutors Office began investigating allegations made by Democratic Progressive Party city councilors. They alleged that Kao had improper ties to a property developer. Kao denied the allegations.

Dissertation controversy

In August 2024, the Taipei District Court sentenced Kao to ten months in prison after ruling that she had falsely accused Chen Shih-fen of defamation. Chen had accused Kao of plagiarism in her doctoral thesis. Kao said that she would appeal.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kao, Ann
Taiwanese expatriates in the United States
University of Cincinnati alumni
Taiwan People's Party Members of the Legislative Yuan
Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Taipei
Party List Members of the Legislative Yuan
Living people
1984 births
Taiwanese women business executives
Foxconn people
National Taiwan Normal University alumni
National Taiwan University alumni
Members of the 10th Legislative Yuan
21st-century Taiwanese women politicians
21st-century Taiwanese businesspeople
Businesspeople from Taipei
Taiwanese women company founders
Taiwanese company founders
21st-century Taiwanese businesswomen
Women mayors of places in Taiwan
Mayors of Hsinchu
Taiwanese politicians convicted of corruption