Top aide indicted on bribery charges

Former Presidential Office deputy secretary-general Chen Che-nan (陳哲男) was yesterday indicted on charges of accepting bribes and profiting from insider trading. Taipei prosecutors asked the court to sentence him to 12 years in jail.

"As one of the government's top officials, Chen's behavior has seriously damaged the government's image, so the prosecutors recommended a lengthy sentence to the Taipei District Court," Taipei District Prosecutors' Office spokesman Lin Pang-liang (林邦樑) said yesterday at a press conference.

Lin said Chen was suspected of receiving NT$7.11 million (US$222,188) from businessman Liang Po-hsun (梁柏薰) to bribe the judges in an embezzlement trial against Liang.

After Liang was sentenced to 14 months in jail, Chen had returned NT$3 million to him, but kept the remaining NT$4.11 million, Lin said.

The led to Chen being indicted on a corruption charge, for which prosecutors recommended an eight-year sentence.

The insider-trading charge stemmed from what prosecutors described as a suspicious trading practice, in which Chen made a profit of around NT$1.6 million from shares in Chihkan Technology Co after he met the company's chairman, Chen Chia-Chu (陳家駒), who shared confidential company information with him, Lin said.

He said that Chen Che-nan was indicted for violations of the Securities Transaction Law (證券交易法), for which a four-year sentence was proposed.

Chen Che-nan has been in detention since April 7.

Liang, who had fled to China in 2004 after being found guilty of embezzling funds from the Overseas Chinese Bank, returned to the country in April 2 to accuse Chen Che-nan of embezzling his money.

Liang was arrested on his arrival at CKS International Airport.

Lin said that Liang had given Chen Che-nan the money through a sauna owner named Yang Chen-feng (楊振豐), who was also indicted on corruption charges yesterday.

Chen Chia-Chu was not indicted yesterday because the investigation into his actions had not been completed yet, Lin said.

Taiwan High Court judge Lee Wen-cheng (李文成), a friend of Chen Che-nan, was disciplined in April after it was discovered that he had been present at a few occasions where Chen Che-nan and Liang had talked about the deal and exchanged money.

Lin yesterday said that Lee had not broken any criminal law.

Chen Che-nan has previously been indicted for his alleged involvement in the corruption scandal surrounding the Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Corp.