The real trial should be for a corrupt system that allows public money to be used and distributed in a haphazard, unaccountable manner — a system that is still in place.
Numerous KMT leaders who were indicted and found guilty of corruption never spent a day in jail throughout the judicial process.
The highest-profile example would be President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who never saw the inside of a cell prior to the overturning of his guilty verdict. Instead, Ma’s secretary did time for his involvement in the case.
People First Party Chairman and former KMT luminary James Soong (宋楚瑜) was found guilty of manipulating sums much larger than that Chen was indicted for, and was even about to be sued by the KMT, but he never spent a minute in jail either.
Elsewhere, former KMT legislator Diane Lee (李慶安) gained millions in improperly holding office while being a dual citizen. She has not even been indicted. To this day, scandalous numbers of pre-2000 KMT money movers walk the streets.
Numerous leaks to the press resulted in Chen’s vilification before his trial, reflecting the way in which the media serve as a tool in extrajudicial declarations of guilt.
At the same time, the prosecutors vigorously blocked Chen from talking to the media because they know and fear that he could embarrass them.
The current minister of justice will say that the case is not political because Chen’s judge was appointed during his presidency.
What the minister does not say is that the KMT-dominated legislature held the public service watchdog, the Control Yuan, hostage for three years.
They repeatedly rejected Chen’s nominations. Chen had to either appoint a list vetted by the KMT or leave the country without Control Yuan members to handle a growing number of cases.
Similarly, the minister of justice tries to rationalize this unjust situation by saying that the prosecutors are independent and impartial, but being free to be impartial and being impartial are different matters altogether: One does not necessarily follow the other.
Chen’s trial is not about justice.
It is an attempt to distract from and expunge the guilt of more than a half-century of corruption and money-laundering using an unjust and unconstitutional prosecution of one man today.
Chen’s real sin is that he, as a Taiwanese, had the audacity to utilize and expose the system installed by the beggar in the temple.
The greatest crime is that the system lives on.
Jerome Keating is a writer based in Taipei.
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