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Funds donated to independence advocate: Chen

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said yesterday his wife had donated US$2 million to a senior Taiwanese independence advocate, who set up “four bank accounts” in the US to facilitate fund transfers to promote diplomatic work, but stopped short of naming the person.

Chen made the remarks during a hearing about his alleged role in a money-laundering scandal.

Chen admitted on Aug. 14 that his wife, Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍), told him in January that she had wired US$21 million abroad without his knowledge. The US$21 million was later frozen by Swiss judicial authorities, who suspected it might have been used in money-laundering, with the funds being transferred to the Swiss bank accounts of Chen’s son and daughter-in-law from Singapore to the Cayman Islands.

Chen said yesterday that after he learned his wife still had US$2 million in an ABN AMRO branch in Singapore, which had not been frozen, “I then asked her to donate the money for use in Taiwan’s diplomatic work and other public affairs.”

Chen said Wu later donated it to a pro-independence figure.

Chen insisted that the US$2 million — like the US$21 million already frozen — were not illegal funds, but were left over from campaign funds during his 2000 and 2004 presidential election bids.

The hearing began at 9:30am yesterday, with the court arranging for Chen, summoned as a witness, to face former Bureau of Investigation (BOI) director-general Yeh Sheng-mao (葉盛茂), who was detained on Monday by the Taipei District Court for his suspected role in the case.

Chen was not accompanied by a lawyer. Yeh was accompanied by his defense lawyer Tu Ying-ta (杜英達).

Chen said he didn’t want to criticize the bureau, but it was hard to determine at times whether the information relayed by the bureau was 100 percent accurate.

As such, he only treated information reported by the bureau as a “reference,” he said.

The former president cited BOI reports that People First Party Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) had secretly met Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), who was then the director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, in the US in February 2005 as an example to support his claim.

Chen Shui-bian said the bureau had reported to him several times about the meeting, but he still lost in the slander suit filed by Soong against him in that regard.

The former president said he was constrained by the same concerns when Yeh told him about allegations of money laundering concerning his family — more so after his wife denied it when he asked her about it.

Yeh only spoke in the last few minutes of yesterday’s hearing when the judges questioned him on how he reported to the former president.

Tu then challenged presiding Judge Lee Ying-hao’s (李英豪) decision on Monday to detain Yeh.

“I do not want to continue this unnecessary bickering,” Lee said. “Write down your statements and submit them to me later. The court is dismissed.”

The next hearing is scheduled for 10am on Tuesday.

Chen Shui-bian’s office yesterday dismissed a Next Magazine report claiming that his son played a decisive role in the former president’s alleged money laundering activities. The office said Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) was just someone who “was passively told what to do” rather than an initiator.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KO SHU-LING
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