In the latest development in a graft scandal implicating her family, former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) yesterday said that she had not stashed NT$740 million (US$22 million) in a local firm.
“Wu Shu-jen was hospitalized during the time,” Wu’s lawyer Lee Sheng-hsiung (李勝雄) said yesterday. “It was impossible for her to assign anyone to move the money to Yuanta Securities [元大證券].”
“She swears on her life that she did not interfere in financial reforms” during former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) term, Lee told reporters.
Lee’s remarks came after Tu Li-ping (杜麗萍), a Yuanta Securities board director, told prosecutors that Wu asked her to take NT$740 million in cash to her firm for safe-keeping during a campaign in 2006 initiated by former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) aimed at ousting Chen from office in 2006.
Tu said that NT$200 million was given to the Chen family when Yuanta was in the process of merging with another company, but added that it was not a bribe.
Wu said through her lawyer yesterday that she had accepted only NT$20 million in the form of a “political donation” from Yuanta.
“I admitted that I had received a political donation of NT$20 million from Yuanta prior to the 2004 presidential election. My husband did not know about this and this was also the only money that I received from Yuanta,” Lee quoted Wu as saying in a statement. “I swear with my life that I did not get involved in the government’s financial reform.”
Tu was questioned and released on bail on Friday.
Chen and his family have been dogged by corruption scandals since 2006 and are being investigated on a series of related charges. Chen has been held incommunicado without charge since Nov. 12 on suspicion of embezzlement, taking bribes, forgery and money laundering during his two terms as president between 2000 and this year.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Panel yesterday said prosecutors had requested officials from the Presidential Office, the Executive Yuan, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the central bank to help identify evidence collected from Chen’s residence and office, adding that some prosecutors had begun to outline an indictment as they plan to close the investigation before the end of next month.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-Wong tomorrow, which it said would possibly make landfall near central Taiwan. As of 2am yesterday, Fung-Wong was about 1,760km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving west-northwest at 26kph. It is forecast to reach Luzon in the northern Philippines by tomorrow, the CWA said. After entering the South China Sea, Typhoon Fung-Wong is likely to turn northward toward Taiwan, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said, adding that it would likely make landfall near central Taiwan. The CWA expects to issue a land
Taiwan’s exports soared to an all-time high of US$61.8 billion last month, surging 49.7 percent from a year earlier, as the global frenzy for artificial intelligence (AI) applications and new consumer electronics powered shipments of high-tech goods, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. It was the first time exports had exceeded the US$60 billion mark, fueled by the global boom in AI development that has significantly boosted Taiwanese companies across the international supply chain, Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) told a media briefing. “There is a consensus among major AI players that the upcycle is still in its early stage,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it is expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong this afternoon and a land warning tomorrow. As of 1pm, the storm was about 1,070km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving west-northwest at 28 to 32kph, according to CWA data. The storm had a radius of 250km, with maximum sustained winds of 173kph and gusts reaching 209kph, the CWA added. The storm is forecast to pass near Luzon in the Philippines before entering the South China Sea and potentially turning northward toward Taiwan, the CWA said. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張峻堯) said
PREPARATION: Ferry lines and flights were canceled ahead of only the second storm to hit the nation in November, while many areas canceled classes and work Authorities yesterday evacuated more than 3,000 people ahead of approaching Tropical Storm Fung-wong, which is expected to make landfall between Kaohsiung and Pingtung County this evening. Fung-wong was yesterday morning downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm as it approached the nation’s southwest coast, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, as it issued a land alert for the storm. The alert applies to residents in Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春). As of press time last night, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, and Yilan, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Pingtung and Penghu counties, as well as Chiayi city and county had
RSS